Ransomware
as a service (RaaS) is the offering of pay-for-use malware created for
extortion over stolen or encrypted data, known as ransomware.
The author of the ransomware makes the software available to
customers called affiliates who can use the software to hold people’s data
hostage with relatively little technical skill. The use of RaaS allows
affiliates to enter an area of extortion practices that was previously
exclusive to the authors themselves.
For the malware author, the business model allows
them to scale their earnings from their software with less personal risk than
incurred if they use it themselves. Offering their software to others removes
them from the final crime by having another perform the act of ransom.
An uptick in the number of ransomware infections has been
attributed by many security experts to the advent of RaaS. McAfee security
researchers claim that the RaaS model has an ability to create vast affiliate
networks, enabling ransomware such as CTB-Locker to increase their impact.
While affiliates might take the chance of paying for RaaS via
credit card, cryptocurrency is often used as payment.
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