Ransomware Family
Extended definition:
Less than two dozen ransomware families contribute to the majority of cyberattacks nowadays. Ransomware families consist of several ransomware threats all of which rely on common code signatures; use the same viral payloads; and apply identical malicious commands once they gain access to a personal or a business system. They also have a similar attack style and distribution.
According to the Bitdefender Threat Debrief report from February 2022, there are 202 active ransomware families. For the analysis specialists used 10.5 million malware detections collected in January 2022. The number of detected ransomware families varies each month. It is based on the currently active ransomware campaigns in different countries.
For more definitions, check our Cyber Dictionary.