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Ransomware

nounid 3754·updated May 9, 2026
verified

A type of malware that is a form of extortion. It works by encrypting a victim's hard drive denying them access to key files. The victim must then pay a ransom to decrypt the files and gain access to them again.

Attested in

No recorded attestations. They are written when an MWE tagging stage is completed, stamped with the pack version and the document’s digest.

Classifications

Entity Type

Threat90%rule-basedr:entity.threat.attack.v1

Sensitivity

unclassified

Information Class

unclassified

Variants

plural
Ransomwares
possessive
Ransomware's
pluralpossessive
Ransomwares'

Framework definitions

SANS Glossary of Security Terms1 senseview framework →
§1
A type of malware that is a form of extortion. It works by encrypting a victim's hard drive denying them access to key files. The victim must then pay a ransom to decrypt the files and gain access to them again.
Legacy lexicon import1 senseview framework →
§1 · legacy_primary
A type of malware that is a form of extortion. It works by encrypting a victim's hard drive denying them access to key files. The victim must then pay a ransom to decrypt the files and gain access to them again.
DR-088 backfill from the noun definition column

Outgoing relationships

No outgoing triples
This term is not the subject of any RDF-style relationship yet.

Incoming relationships

No incoming triples
No other term currently asserts a relationship to this one.