Since virtually everyone saw the Colonial Pipeline attack in the news media, ransomware has become a household word. Most people understand that ransomware involves black hats putting code on people’s computers that, once triggered, causes them to lock up, and some people even know that encryption is involved, but few are aware of the step-by-step details.

In this Understanding Phishing guide, we lay out the methods used by ransomware attackers and make the connection between ransomware and phishing.