Ransomware: Recent advances, analysis, challenges and future research directions.

Area of Science:

• Cybersecurity
• Computer Science
• Information Security

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic led to a surge in ransomware attacks on healthcare, financial, and government sectors.
• Increased remote work in less secure home environments is a potential driver for this rise.
• Cybercriminals utilize social engineering, like phishing, to distribute ransomware.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore recent advancements in ransomware prevention and detection strategies.
• To identify future research challenges and directions in combating ransomware.
• To analyze existing ransomware samples and develop a novel experimental ransomware.

Main Methods:

• Review of current literature on ransomware prevention and detection.
• Analysis of popular ransomware samples.
• Development of an experimental ransomware named AESthetic.
• Testing AESthetic against eight popular antivirus programs for evasion capabilities.

Main Results:

• The study highlights key trends and challenges in ransomware defense.
• AESthetic demonstrated the ability to evade detection by eight leading antivirus solutions.
• Analysis provided insights into the mechanisms of popular ransomware strains.

Conclusions:

• There is an ongoing need for advanced ransomware detection and prevention methods.
• The development of evasive ransomware like AESthetic underscores the evolving threat landscape.
• Further research is crucial to develop robust defenses against sophisticated ransomware attacks.