A Survey of Crypto Ransomware Attack Detection Methodologies: An Evolving Outlook

Abstract

Recently, ransomware attacks have been among the major threats that target a wide range of Internet and mobile users throughout the world, especially critical cyber physical systems. Due to its unique characteristics, ransomware has attracted the attention of security professionals and researchers toward achieving safer and higher assurance systems that can effectively detect and prevent such attacks. The state-of-the-art crypto ransomware early detection models rely on specific data acquired during the runtime of an attack’s lifecycle. However, the evasive mechanisms that these attacks employ to avoid detection often nullify the solutions that are currently in place. More effort is needed to keep up with an attacks’ momentum to take the current security defenses to the next level. This survey is devoted to exploring and analyzing the state-of-the-art in ransomware attack detection toward facilitating the research community that endeavors to disrupt this very critical and escalating ransomware problem. The focus is on crypto ransomware as the most prevalent, destructive, and challenging variation. The approaches and open issues pertaining to ransomware detection modeling are reviewed to establish recommendations for future research directions and scope.

Illuminating the dark corners: a qualitative examination of cryptocurrency’s risk

“…Ransomware refers to malicious software that encrypts a victim’s computer system or data, rendering it inaccessible until a ransom is paid. Due to its anonymity and difficulty in being tracked, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have become more and more in demand by ransomware attackers in recent years (Alqahtani and Sheldon, 2022). Receiving payments in Bitcoins is quite simple for the attackers since they simply need to supply a Bitcoin wallet address (Zimba et al , 2019).…”

“…Fonseca et al (2020) examined only psychological barriers to cryptocurrency adoption, while Gurgun et al (2022) explored the barriers to using cryptocurrency in managing the construction supply process using the empirical approach. Alqahtani and Sheldon (2022) conducted a systematic review of crypto-ransomware attack detection methodologies. Amsyar et al (2020) focused on a comprehensive assessment of the challenges that cryptocurrencies pose, while Eigelshoven and Parry (2021) study concentrated on a thorough review of the manipulation of cryptocurrency markets.…”

Advanced Ransomware Detection: Unveiling Anti-Analysis Tactics through Enhanced Temporal Data Correlation

“…Data-centric and Process-centric approaches can be used all together for the detection of ransomware. This mixed approach can eliminate the issue of lesser available data during the pre-encryption phase [7]. This approach is still in the early stages, authors did not provide experimental data to show that their strategy is superior to others [31].…”

An Effective Self-Configurable Ransomware Prevention Technique for IoMT

“…Alqahtani et al [ 12 ], offered a survey that is dedicated to studying and assessing the state-of-the-art in ransomware detection and prevention in the interest of aiding the scientists that attempts to disrupt this extremely significant and rising malware issue. The emphasis is on cryptographic ransomware since it is the kind that is the most common, damaging, and difficult to deal with.…”

“…The ransomware attacks can be divided into three categories: Crypto ransomware [ 12 ] where the attackers use the encryption and decryption algorithm (i.e., public-private key) to encrypt the data and files, hold the decryption key, and demand for ransomware. The decryption key is handed over once the victims pay the ransom amount.…”