The history of hacking ransoms and cryptocurrency

Earlier this month, hundreds of companies from the US to Sweden were entangled in the ransomware attack through Kaseya, a company that offers network infrastructure to businesses around the world.

The Kaseya hack comes on the heels of other headline-grabbing cyberattacks like the Colonial Pipeline hijacking and the JBS meat supplier hack. In each instance, criminals had the opportunity to make off with millions -- and much of the ransoms were paid in Bitcoin.

"We have to remember the primary reason for creating Bitcoin in the first place was to provide anonymity and secure, trustless and borderless transaction capabilities," says Keatron Evans, principal security researcher at Infosec Institute.

As Bitcoin grows more prominent in markets around the world, cybercrooks have found a vital tool to help them move illegal assets quickly and pseudonymously. And by all accounts, the attacks are only becoming more common. 

Ransomware on the rise

Ransomware is a cybercrime that involves ransoming personal and business data back to the owner of that data. 

First, a criminal hacks into a private network. The hack is accomplished through various tactics, darkmarket link including phishing, social engineering and preying upon users' weak passwords.

Once network access is gained, dark web marketplaces the criminal locks important files within the network using encryption. The owner can't access the files unless they pay a ransom. Nowadays, cybercriminals tend to request their ransoms in cryptocurrencies.

The FBI estimates ransomware attacks accounted for at least $144.35 million in Bitcoin ransoms from 2013 to 2019. 

These attacks are scalable and can be highly targeted or broad, darknet markets url ensnaring anyone who happens to click a link or onion dark website web darknet markets onion install a particular software program. 

This allows a small team of cybercrooks to ransom data back to organizations of all sizes -- and dark web market list the tools needed to hack into a small business or dark market multinational cooperation are largely the same.