Ransomware, a latent threat in Latin America

Abstract

This article shows that Ransomware attacks in Latin America have become one of the most important and dangerous cyber threats for organizations and users in general; This according to the security report latinoamerica 2021 by antivirus company ESET, for this reason initially a literature review was conducted and relevant cases occurred, which allowed gathering information to determine its evolution and impact since 2015, likewise in this phase it was possible to understand this concept and its characteristics, then the attack vectors and methodologies used by the attackers were identified, this contributed to identify the types of Ransomware that have appeared in recent years to describe the methods of infection that are used by cyber criminals. By recognizing the behavior of this malware and the trends associated with this threat, recommendations are generated to guide organizations and individuals to avoid becoming victims of attacks of this type, which constitutes a contribution to mitigate this type of risk. This document is obtained from the research carried out in the development of the degree work: "EVOLUTION AND IMPACT OF RANSOMWARE IN LATIN AMERICA SINCE 2015".