Ransomware Appeared in 2020

Abstract

Ransomware is a collection of malicious software used by cyber security criminals to extort victims to pay a specified ransom at a specific time. In addition, ransomware attacks represent a modern challenge for all countries, companies, and organizations.A part of the results in this paper includes the timeline for the most ransomware that appeared in 2020, such that the paper listed eight ransomware this year, started by (Ragnar Locker) which appeared in January 2020, and ended by (Egregor) which appeared in September from the same year. In addition, the study found that: most ransomware uses a combination of three algorithms, like Nefilim and RansomExx, which use (RSA-2048, RSA-4096, and AES-256) algorithms, while most of the ransomware jointly uses the RSA & AES algorithms. In addition, the paper pointed out that: Egregor and Conti have the largest amount of ransoms, which is ($35 and $25) million respectively, instead (ProLock) which has the lowest ransom which is ($40000). Also, the amount ransoms of Nefilim and RansomExx is not determined. While Avaddon, Conti, and Nefilim are the most dangerous ransomware in 2020, because of their wide separation and attacks in many countries and companies.

Keywords: Cyberattack, Ransomware, Ransom, Encryption, AES, RSA, RC4

DOI: 10.7176/CEIS/14-3-02

Publication date:August 31^st 2023