With New Digital Tools, Even Nonexperts Can Wage Cyberattacks - The New York Times

Also see The need for urgent collective action to keep people safe online: Lessons from last week’s cyberattack (Brad Smith, Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer, on the Official Microsoft Blog)

"Ransomware is nothing new. For years, there have been stories of individuals or companies horrified that they have been locked out of their computers and that the only way back in is to pay a ransom to someone, somewhere who has managed to take control.

But computer criminals are discovering that ransomware is the most effective way to make money in the shortest amount of time. The advent of new tools that wrap victims’ data with tough encryption technology, hard-to-trace digital currency like Bitcoin, and even online sites that offer to do the data ransoming in return for a piece of the action, have made this method of cybertheft much easier."

With New Digital Tools, Even Nonexperts Can Wage Cyberattacks - The New York Times