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The firstransomwareattack took place in 1989 and was made possible by the floppy disk.

The growth of cryptocurrency is just one of several major trends that has influenced the ransomware landscape.

A computer being guarded by cybersecurity.

Elsewhere for example, international relations has played a part.

Managing Director of Databarracks.

Theyd just started offering cyber insurance policies but at that point, they were yet to receive a claim.

But as the number of ransomware attacks rocketed, organizations eagerly took out cyber polices to protect themselves.

Ransomware attack methods and the ransoms demanded were very different then to how they are today.

In the early 2010s the most common ransomware businesses faced were low-cost, mass-market bang out attacks like CryptoLocker.

The ransom demanded by the attackers was just a few hundred dollars.

As attacks became more common, there were significant changes in how criminals operated.

The biggest problem for businesses was the fact that they werent addressing the root cause of attacks.

But when it comes to obtaining cyber cover, businesses today have far more to account for.

For them, the best customers are those who are unlikely to make a claim.

Crucially, insurance companies also began discouraging payments wherever possible.

These changes had a significant impact on the state of play.

Organizations improved both their preventative security measures and their ability to respond.

Suddenly, businesses sought to implement immutable backups and segregation of operations and began carrying out frequent DR testing.

The resulting shift is already visible across businesses.

More organizations than ever have cyber insurance but fewer are making claims.

Instead, businesses are recovering themselves.

Ultimately however, paying will only lead to more attacks.

While outright bans onpaymentare frequently discussed by regulators, they have almost always been abandoned.

The only successful ban has prevented payments to known terrorist organisations.

Cyber insurance has succeeded where regulation has mostly failed.

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The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc.