{"id":54077,"date":"2016-08-17T18:34:13","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T18:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=54077"},"modified":"2016-08-17T18:34:13","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T18:34:13","slug":"history-ransomware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/history-ransomware\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ransomware Evolution &#038; Best Practices to Stay Safe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ransomware has become an epidemic, but where did it originate?<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Our security experts conducted research on the exact origins of ransomware, as well as best practices for PC users to prevent infection.\u00a0 Their research has been combined into one document for you to read at your leisure, which is attached below.\u00a0 We decided it would be beneficial for PC users to understand the concept of ransomware, where it came from, how it has evolved, and what they can do to prevent a ransomware infection.\u00a0 We hope you find it useful.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/History-of-Ransomware.pdf\">History of Ransomware<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ransomware has become an epidemic, but where did it originate?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":53932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[4949,5000,12],"tags":[5028],"class_list":["post-54077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ransomware","category-ransomwarewar","category-the-pit-blog","tag-history-of-ransomware"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Ransomware Evolution &amp; Best Practices to Stay Safe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ransomware began over 30 years ago. Follow along to see the full ransomware evolution as well as suggested best practices to stay safe...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/history-ransomware\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Ransomware Evolution &amp; Best Practices to Stay Safe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ransomware began over 30 years ago. Follow along to see the full ransomware evolution as well as suggested best practices to stay safe...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/history-ransomware\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PC Matic Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-17T18:34:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/ransomware-200x200.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kayla Elliott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pcmatic\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kayla Elliott\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/history-ransomware\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/history-ransomware\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kayla Elliott\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d4a11f480158af9f8090d8d90e0de8db\"},\"headline\":\"The Ransomware Evolution &#038; Best Practices to Stay Safe\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-17T18:34:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/history-ransomware\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":102,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/history-ransomware\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/ransomware-200x200.png\",\"keywords\":[\"history of ransomware\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Ransomware\",\"RansomwareWar\",\"The Pit Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/history-ransomware\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/history-ransomware\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/history-ransomware\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Ransomware Evolution & Best Practices to Stay Safe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/history-ransomware\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/history-ransomware\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pcmatic.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/ransomware-200x200.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-17T18:34:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"Ransomware began over 30 years ago. 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