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Preventing and Mitigating Ransomware

A Systematic Literature Review

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Information Security (ISSA 2018)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 973))

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Abstract

There has been significant growth in ransomware attacks over the past few years. Many organizations have been affected by a variety of ransomware attacks, leading to a large amount of data becoming inaccessible. In a typical ransomware attack malicious software encrypts electronic data while extorting money from an unexpecting victim. In order to decrypt and restore data, the attacker requests user to pay the ransom amount, typically through crypto-currency such as Bitcoin. There are various ways how ransomware infiltrate a computer, including phishing emails, drive-by downloads or vulnerable websites containing executable files of the malware. Being a new emerging type of attack, limited consolidated information is known by users. Therefore, this paper sets out to perform a systematic literature review to determine what has been published during the previous 3 years in leading academic journals regarding the prevention and mitigation of ransomware. Two hundred and sixty one (261) journal articles dealt with ransomware from four perspectives: prevention and mitigation methods, detection methods, case studies and attack methods. Out of the 261 journal articles, 35 journal articles that resort under the prevention and mitigation category were further analyzed. The papers were coded and a consolidated list of 13 guidelines was constructed. Interestingly, and somewhat concerning, these prevention and mitigation guidelines cover basic cyber-security practices to prevent and mitigate against any kind of cyber-attack, not specifically ransomware. This raises questions regarding the research agenda, but the repetition of established guidelines also raises questions on the effectiveness of security education, training and awareness interventions.

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Acknowledgements

This work is based upon research partially supported by the National Research Foundation, and partially through a CSIR-DST Inter-Programme Bursary. Any opinion, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and not of the respective funders.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Research in Information and Cyber Security, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

    Zandile Manjezi & Reinhardt A. Botha

Authors
  1. Zandile Manjezi
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  2. Reinhardt A. Botha
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zandile Manjezi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa

    Hein Venter

  2. University of South Africa, Florida, Gauteng, South Africa

    Marianne Loock

  3. University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, Gauteng, South Africa

    Marijke Coetzee

  4. University of South Africa, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa

    Mariki Eloff

  5. University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa

    Jan Eloff

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Manjezi, Z., Botha, R.A. (2019). Preventing and Mitigating Ransomware. In: Venter, H., Loock, M., Coetzee, M., Eloff, M., Eloff, J. (eds) Information Security. ISSA 2018. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 973. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11407-7_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11407-7_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-11407-7

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