Ransomware: the most profitable malware ever?

Cisco’s mid-year security report warns that ransomware has become extremely profitable and more dangerous due to anonymous payment/routing (Bitcoin, Tor), automated propagation and lateral movement (“ransomware 2.0”), and widespread poor IT maintenance—evidenced by thousands of internet-facing devices running long-known vulnerabilities and active campaigns like Samsam exploiting JBoss via tools such as JexBoss.