Ransomware now included in the Oxford English Dictionary
Ransomware has made its way into the Oxford English Dictionary. An omen, if ever there was one, that this type of malware isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
Ransomware is a type of malware that, upon infecting your device, locks you out of your files until you pay a ransom to regain access.
Earlier, more primitive versions of ransomware would simply lock you out of your device and tell you that you had to pay up to regain access, but could be removed using standard malware removal techniques, whereupon you could continue using the device as normal.
However, more advanced versions of ransomware actually encrypt the files on your computer, such as photos, videos and text documents. Even if you managed to remove the ransomware, your files would still be encrypted, and useless. Depending on the strain of ransomware, decrypting those files could be easy, tricky or nigh impossible – unless you paid the ransom, and even that is never a guarantee you’ll get the files back.
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The ransomware industry is huge, and strains of this malware become more and more advanced with each passing month. The WannaCry attacks in 2017 that affected various UK services including the NHS highlighted that ransomware developers were successfully exploiting software vulnerabilities (and peoples reluctance to move away from Windows XP!) to help spread ransomware, with devastating consequences.
So big is the industry that it even faces many problems faced by legitimate brands, like the emphasis on providing good customer satisfaction, and there are now even “ransomware-for-hire” kits available on the Dark Web.
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Ransomware’s inclusion in the OED is a sign, if any of you needed one, that ransomware is going to be around for a long, long time, and everyone – from large businesses down to the individual user – needs to be aware of how it works and how to avoid it. Luckily for you we outline the most important information about ransomware in our article here, which we recommend giving a read.
Oxford describe ransomware as –
A type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid.
And if you’re at all curious, other words that managed to get into the OED recently include “Hangry” – getting angry as a result of being hungry, and “Mansplaining” – a patronising explanation typically from a man directed at a woman.
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