Ransomware has morphed from a relatively small problem to a multi-billion dollar industry within a fairly short period, says threat analyst Brett Callow. Emsisoft anti-malwares conservative estimate of the ransomware costs to the global economy is approximately $170 billion, with $25 billion of those losses attributed to the payment of demands. The highest publicly known demand is $42 million, while the highest demand not publicly known is said to exceed $1 billion. The stakes go well beyond financial, more so because many attacks are also data breaches.”]