Star Trek—yes, the original from the late 1960s with William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy (RIP) as Commander Spock. Iconic. It captivated audiences as it was one of the first television shows to fully air in color by a major network and was so science-fiction-centric and futuristic that people didn’t know what to think at first but were fascinated, nonetheless. That spawned decades of franchise television shows and movies for multiple generations to enjoy as it moved to cult classic status.

When you look at ransomware in the cybersecurity realm, it followed a similar path in many ways. It was one of the first cybersecurity threats ever detected—the first case being in 1989 with the AIDS Trojan—long before the internet was even a thing and when computers were the size of small desks. In that instance, a Harvard biologist sent 20,000 infected floppy disks out to attendees of the World Health Organization’s International AIDS Conference, which prompted users to send $189 to a PO Box in Panama. While the idea fizzled out, it did set forth the idea that is now known as ransomware. 

Since that time and with the launch of the internet, ransomware has evolved and spun off multiple iterations of cyberthreats to go along with the advancement of technology. The emergence of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin has allowed ransomware to evolve, expand, and become more prevalent in terms of threat.

By 2017, these worlds collided when a ‘Star Trek’-themed Kirk ransomware emerged, encrypting your data and demanding a ransom be paid in Monero with a Spock decryptor. This hit a number of legitimate websites and was just one example of how frequent these types of attacks have occurred over the past five to 10 years. The FBI reported more than $209 million in ransom payments had been recorded in the first three months of 2016 alone. That was six years ago. That number swelled to near $600 million in the first half of 2021 alone.

Being the first at something, like both Star Trek and ransomware were, can be exciting, frightening, and nerve-wracking all at the same time. Will it be successful? Did you think of all the intangibles? How will it be received? Will I trip and fall on my face? These are questions that many ask when they are the first to enter new territory. And many in that space fail.

These are two examples that had rocky starts but have sustained long term. In Star Trek’s case, it was the cult following that developed that led to demand for more franchise series and movies along with reboots to stay relevant for multiple generations across numerous platforms (movies, TV, video games, books, etc.) For ransomware, it’s been a rollercoaster as technology has evolved—opting to rear its ugly head at opportunistic times and forcing cybersecurity experts to game plan to keep both company and individual information and assets safe against its evolving threat in our daily lives.

So, to paraphrase the OG Star Trek quote of boldly going where no one has gone before, let’s keep an eye on ransomware and see if it continues to evolve and go where no malware has ever gone before.