Ransomware: A Cyber Threat to the Business Community

In recent years, ransomware has become one of the biggest cyber scams to hit businesses. Ransomware is mischievous software that allows a hacker to restrict access to an individual's or company's vital information in some way and then demand some form of payment to lift the restriction. The most common form of restriction today is encryption of important data on the computer or network, which essentially lets the attacker hold user data or a system hostage. Over the past three years, ransomware has become one of the biggest scams to hit businesses. The ramifications of a successful attack are far more extensive than just the cost of the ransom. Organisations can suffer lost productivity, loss of business, inconvenience to customers and potentially the permanent loss of data. In this paper, mode of ransome attack, ways to protect the hardware are discussed. Ransomware attack is a breach of Right to personal liberty guaranteed under the Indian Constitution. India at present does not have a proper extradition law to deal with crimes that have been committed over the Internet. Critical analysis of ransomware attack, methods to protect the ransomware attack and the legal protection against ransomware attacks are presented in this article.