What Is Ransomware, And How Can You Avoid Falling Victim To It?
ESET, Friday, February 27th, 2026
Understanding the nature of ransomware and how it has evolved from the early beginnings to becoming the prime cybersecurity threat to organizations and individuals is key to working out how to prevent or reduce the impact of a successful attack.
Ransomware is a particularly unpleasant form of malware that encrypts or otherwise blocks access to files on a victim's computer or network storage, and demands payment for unlocking the data. Over the years, it has become even more dangerous, damaging and painful to tackle as attackers often adjust and improve their tactics to extract payment from successful ransomware attacks.
The victims of ransomware are faced with a stark choice: pay the ransom, lose access to the data the attacker has encrypted, or even worse, find it publicly leaked - a significant reputational, financial and legal risk.