"The biggest online threat to businesses and consumers today is ransomware, a category of malware that can encrypt your computer files until you pay a ransom to unlock them. With this practical book, you'll learn how easily ransomware can infect your system and what steps you can take to stop the attack before it sets foot in your network. Security experts Allan Liska and Timothy Gallo explain how the success of these attacks has spawned not only several variants of ransomware, but also a litany of ever-changing ways they're delivered to targets. You'll learn pragmatic methods for responding quickly to a ransomware attack, as well as how to protect yourself from becoming infected in the first place"--Back cover

Understanding ransomware. Introduction to ransomware ; Pros and cons of paying the ransom ; Ransomware operators and targets -- Defensive tactics. Protecting workstations and servers ; Protecting the workforce ; Threat intelligence and ransomware -- Ransomware families. Cerber ; Locky ; CryptXXX ; Other ransomware families