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Articles · Ransomware · 2 min read
What is ransomware?
Ransomware is malware that locks your files and demands payment to unlock them. It runs in four steps:
It gets in
Through the usual doors
A malicious attachment, a bad link, or a fake download slips onto your device — the same ways any malware arrives. Nothing looks wrong yet.
It encrypts
Your files, quietly scrambled
In the background it locks your photos, documents, and even your backups, rewriting them so only the attacker's key can open them again.
The demand
Pay, and hurry
A screen takes over asking for money, usually in cryptocurrency, with a countdown timer meant to panic you into paying before you think it through.
The trap
Paying rarely gets your files back
Handing over the money funds the crime and often returns nothing — no key, or a broken one. A recent backup, kept separate from your device, is the only reliable way out. That's ransomware — and a recent backup is worth more than any decryption key.
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