Abstract

A recent study titled, “Battling the Big Hack” by IT professional network Spiceworks found that that 80% of organizations experienced an IT security incident in 2015, with 53% of respondents having a concern for ransomware in 2016. But how did we get here? And how can we avoid these growing attacks in the coming year and beyond? In general, all ransomware pretty much works the same in that it tries to extort money from a user, but each variation of it does something slightly different. This presentation will discuss the history of ransomware – from the first known ransomware, which hit the scene back in 1989 (the “AIDS” or “PC Cyborg” Trojan), to Gpcode (RSA encryption schemes), CryptoLocker (Bitcoin transactions), and Cryptowall (targeting Windows), with many others in between. We’ll close out the discussion with 2016 ransomware predictions, as well as how users can mitigate these attacks in the future.

Bio

Dodi is VP of CyberSecurity for PC Pitstop with 10+ years’ experience in the cyber security industry, specializing in security risk assessment, programming, firewalls, malware/targeted attacks, antivirus, & more. Previously, he led several initiatives in malware research, software development, software testing, and product management for ThreatTrack Security, Sunbelt Software, & GFI Software.