VERY IMPORTANT

Throughout the past couple of years ransomware has dominated the threat landscape and for good reason. It creates a highly profitable business model that allows attackers to directly monetize their nefarious activities. However, there are a couple of limitations with the use of ransomware. First is the fact that only a small percentage of infected users will actually pay the ransom demanded by the attacker. Second, as systems and technology get better at detecting and blocking ransomware attacks the pool of possible victims is changing. Potential victims in many countries lack the financial capabilities to pay $300-$500 to retrieve their data. Possibly related to these aforementioned limitations, we have begun to see a steady shift in the payloads that are being delivered. This is especially true for some of the most common methods for malware distribution such as exploit kits and spam campaigns.