You’ve probably heard of SaaS businesses where SaaS stands for software-as-a-service. These businesses offer some type of software on a monthly subscription basis, thus providing value to their users while generating a steady stream of profits. RaaS is a similar business model, except that it is used for more of a negative purpose.
Most simply put, ransomware as a service is a type of business model where cybercriminals provide ransomware hacking kits to their customers. These kits can be purchased or rented, depending on the type of package sold on the black market. Read on to learn more about what RaaS is and how it works.
How Does RaaS Work?
Before we get into details regarding RaaS, it is important to clarify the whole concept of ransomware attacks. A ransomware attack is a type of cybersecurity attack where hackers take over a system using malicious code to lock the users out of their devices. While doing so, hackers encrypt sensitive and vital information they find on the device in order to ask for a ransom in exchange.
The user can either accept to pay the ransom or say no, in which case hackers usually destroy the sensitive information. As if asking for money in return for access to personal data is not bad enough, sometimes the criminals won’t let you have the key to your data even after you pay them. That’s why paying the ransom is not the very best idea in this situation.
Now that we got the concept of a ransomware attack out of the way, let’s go back to RaaS. Ransomware as a service became popular a while ago when hackers discovered that they can make extra money by selling their knowledge and coding skills to other hackers in the community. Thus, these more advanced cybercriminals put together hacking kits which newbies can use to execute a ransomware attack.
Thanks to RaaS, even beginners can attack devices and request ransoms, which is not great news for us. Besides, anyone can become an affiliate for these programs and packages, allowing the community to further weave the web. There are many ransomware kit packages available on the black market that can help beginners execute successful attacks. In case of a successful ransomware attack, the coder, provider, and attacker get to split the ransom money between themselves.
Stay Safe from Ransomware Attacks
The RaaS trend is growing because it’s a win-win situation in the cybercriminal community. The experienced hackers get to make extra money while the newbies get a place to practice. Since there are no signs of ransomware attacks dying out any time soon, make sure to protect your devices to stay safe.
This includes keeping your system and programs up to date, using relevant and reliable security solutions, and backing up your data. After all, you can’t lose much in case of a ransomware attack if you already have the data stored at another location. Lastly, you can refer to the NIST cybersecurity framework for extra safety measures.
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