With New Digital Tools, Even Nonexperts Can Wage Cyberattacks<br />Ransoms now range from as little as one Bitcoin, which equates to roughly $1,700, to as many as 30 Bitcoin, nearly $51,000,<br />with the median ransom equating to four Bitcoin, or nearly $7,000, according to researchers at the Crypsis Group.<br />In one recent attack that Mr. Rebholz tracked, the attackers tried to convince their victim<br />that paying a "contribution" — or ransom — would benefit sick children around the world.<br />And while some amateur ransomware attackers may not restore victims’ data once the ransom is paid, the more professional outfits worry<br />that if they do not decrypt a victim’s data, their reputation and "business" may suffer as a result, Mr. Rebholz said.<br />Chris Camacho said that In the past three months, health care providers have been preparing themselves<br />for these attacks, either with Bitcoin at the ready or with professional incident responders,<br />The advent of new tools that wrap victims’ data with tough encryption technology, hard-to-trace digital currency like Bitcoin, and even online sites<br />that offer to do the data ransoming in return for a piece of the action, have made this method of cybertheft much easier.<br />The SamSam group is known to move from file to file, manually encrypting hundreds of systems, so it<br />can demand the highest in Bitcoin ransoms, according to the Crypsis Group, Symantec and others.<br />Most small- to medium-size businesses pay the ransoms because they do not have backups of their data<br />and feel they have no other option, Mr. Rebholz said.
