The History of Ransomware

This report provides a concise history and current landscape of ransomware from its origins in the late 1980s through 2024, covering major families (AIDS Trojan, CryptoLocker, Petya/NotPetya, WannaCry, CL0P), the rise of RaaS, cryptocurrency-facilitated payments, tactics such as data exfiltration, double/triple extortion and Big Game Hunting, the role of initial access brokers, notable group behaviours (LockBit, AlphV, Snatch, etc.), and recent trends and predictions about continued evolution and exploitation of managed file transfer systems.