Lisa Lifshitz discusses the threat of ransomware on the cloud in Canadian Lawyer
Overview
Ramsomware is a type of malware that encrypts a target’s software files, forcing them to pay a “ransom” for their decryption. It’s not new — it has been around since the early 1990s — but what is new is the increasing threat posed by the efficiencies of a cloud-based delivery system known as ransomware as a service. RaaS is a criminal variant of software as a service, or SaaS, whereby cybercriminals provide the platform and related ransomware services (everything from delivery to taking payment to tracking the progress of the extortion) for a fixed fee or percentage of the ransom payment. Basically, it has become very easy to just log in to the portal of a favorite RaaS dark web vendor, pay the fees to get started (sometimes as low as $US39!) and distribute malware to their victims without having to actually write their own malicious code. No real technical skills necessary.
To read Lisa Lifshitz's recent IT Girl Column in Canadian Lawyer Online, click here.
People
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Chair of Torkin Manes' Technology and Privacy & Data Management Groups, Lisa practises exclusively in the areas of technology, privacy and cybersecurity law.
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Partner and Chair, Technology and Privacy & Data Management Groups
