WannaCry has broken the trust model that ransomware relies on for a ransom to be paid, potentially stopping ransomware from being one of the most popular cyberattack methods, according to Europol’s Security Advisor, Rik Ferguson.

The US National Security Agency’s (NSA) attempt to make use of exploits by Shadow Brokers hacking group selling them has broken the trust that ransomware is dependant on.

Ferguson noted that people are starting to realise that even if they were to pay a ransom it doesn’t mean that they are going to get access to their private data, making the WannaCry attack that hit more that 200,000 computers last month positive, because of media attention boosting awareness.

“The biggest thing wrong with WannaCry is that it broke the trust model that ransomware feeds on because it relies on the fact that if the ransom is paid, data is restored. However, the more it becomes apparent that paying the ransom does not necessarily mean you get the data back, the less likely people are to pay,” said Ferguson.

“Breaking the trust model may just kill the goose that laid the golden egg from the criminals’ perspective because it has made people aware that, even if they pay the ransom, there is no guarantee they will get their data back, and that they do have to focus on other methods of mitigation and recovery,” he added.

Written from source by Leah Alger
Source: Computer Weekly