Malware vs Ransomware: A Primer

This article explains how malware has become an enabling supply chain while ransomware evolved from opportunistic endpoint encryption (circa 2015) to targeted, human-operated extortion (by 2020) and, by 2026, a mature criminal business with specialized roles, supply chains, and operational rigor; it urges CISOs and boards to treat ransomware as an enterprise risk—prioritizing identity recovery, resilience, containment speed, tested restoration, and governance rather than relying solely on prevention.