Main differences between ransomware and sextortion attacks

Ransomware attacks and sextortion are similar in that both types of threats are aimed at extracting profit from victims through blackmail, but they differ significantly in their distribution methods, goals, and consequences. Ransomware is most often distributed through malicious email attachments or software vulnerabilities. Such programs encrypt data on the victim's computer and demand a money transfer to restore it. The goal of such attacks is to obtain money by threatening to lose data that is important to the victim. The consequences usually include financial losses and damage to reputation. Sextortion, on the other hand, is most often implemented through threats to publish personal intimate materials that can be stolen from the Internet or obtained through manipulation of personal data. Unlike ransomware, the main goal here is moral pressure to force the victim to pay or comply with the attacker's demands. This can lead to the destruction of personal life and psychological trauma.