Ransomware has become the most popular form of malware in data security breaches, according to the 2018 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report. The report is based on 53,308 security incidents, 2,216 data breaches, and 67 contributors globally. Ransomware started to appear in 2013 and has become the top variety of malicious software and found in 39 percent of cases where malware was identified. In addition, attacks are moving to more business critical systems that encrypt file servers and databases. Meanwhile, ransom demands are increasing. Why has ransomware become so commonplace? Because it’s easy to deploy and can be very effective–you don’t have to be a master criminal; off-the-shelf toolkits allow any amateur to create and deploy ransomware in a matter of minutes. There’s little risk or cost involved and there’s no need to monetize stolen data. What is your plan for Ransomware, do you have one?