Experts say we’re currently undergoing a new wave of fake extortion attempts — attackers pretending that they stole or encrypted data and demanding ransoms — and it’s likely to continue. Fake attacks have the advantage for scammers of being vastly faster and easier and therefore can be committed at a massive scale by scammers without skills. Because of the ease of this attack, cybersecurity experts expect it to exist indefinitely.
Here's how to spot these fake attacks without wasting time or money.