Ransomware, extortion and the cyber crime ecosystem
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A white paper from the NCSC and the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Adapted edition
- Document type
- Reference Guide
- Format
- DOCX
- Pages
- 12
- Language
- English
- Version
- 1.0
- Updated
- 2026-09-16
- Category
- Information security
- Licence
- Open Government Licence v3.0
Description
A white paper from the NCSC and the National Crime Agency (NCA) for organisational planning, review and training. NCSC guidance is advisory and should be applied to the organisation's own risks and obligations.
Contents
- Ministerial Foreword
- NCSC Foreword
- Lindy Cameron, NCSC CEO
- NCA Foreword
- 'Whole of system' response
- James Babbage, NCA DG Threats
- Introduction
- The evolution of ransomware
- The cyber crime ecosystem
- Common initial access vectors
- Direct exploitation
- Brute force access
- Stealers and loaders
- Distribution
- Initial access brokers
- Ransomware business models
- Source links
Source and licence
National Cyber Security Centre
AttributionNational Cyber Security Centre, “Ransomware, extortion and the cyber crime ecosystem” (11 September 2023), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
ChangesAdapted 16 September 2026: converted the official HTML article into neutral text-only DOCX and PDF editions. Preserved article headings, paragraphs, lists and plain-text source-link destinations; normalized web whitespace and typographic punctuation; omitted site navigation, topic and download cards, images, logos, scripts, styles and page furniture.
Version history
- v1.016/09/2026