[imagesource: YouTube / Last Week Tonight with John Oliver]

Ransomware attacks are often the sort of thing you see a headline about, but keep on moving because it doesn’t really concern you.

A school here, a pipeline there, a bank perhaps, but the world is filled with enough terror we can fully grasp to worry too much about stuff we have a limited understanding of.

You’re here now, though, so I’ll assume you’re interested.

On Sunday’s episode of Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, the Brit did a deep dive into ransomware to “unpack this criminal technique used by hackers involving encrypting a victim’s device and forcing the owner to pay a ransom to unlock it”.

More via Mashable:

“If you’re thinking, ‘Is it just me, or did there not used to be a massive ransomware attack every two months?’ You’re actually right,” says Oliver.

“Over the past few years, it’s gone from a trickle to an absolute flood. The estimated total ransoms paid quadrupled to $350 million last year. And that is definitely an undercount, because companies often don’t publicly disclose ransomware attacks, for fear of negative press or lawsuits.”

The segment also looks into the history of ransomware attacks, starting with an infamous 1989 floppy disk hack.

Get your sarmie ready (or lunch of choice for the low-carb crowd), and in we go:

[source:mashable]