Hostage Byte Attack

A Hostage Byte Attack, commonly referred to as a ransomware attack, is a DDoS attack against a user whose data was saved on a rogue storage node. Unless the user pays a ransom, the storage node won’t give the user back some of the data.

If the user doesn’t pay a ransom or make a payment in cryptocurrency, the attacker may even threaten to remove crucial files from the user’s device. This might be particularly harmful if the attacker is simultaneously wiping out their own data, which would render that data unrecoverable even if the ransom were paid. The attacker may even encrypt the data before deleting it, which would make recovery even more difficult.