# A Survey on Ransomware: Evolution, Taxonomy, and Defense Solutions

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.06249 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.06249/

## Key facts

- Cited by 9 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 11 Feb 2021.

## Built on by (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [MalTool: Malicious Tool Attacks on LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.12194/) (2026)
- [Demystifying the Transferability of Adversarial Attacks in Computer Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.04488/) (2021)
- [Scamming the Scammers: Using ChatGPT to Reply Mails for Wasting Time and Resources](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.13521/) (2023)
- [AI-based Malware and Ransomware Detection Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.02108/) (2022)
- [Leveraging Reinforcement Learning in Red Teaming for Advanced Ransomware Attack Simulations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.17576/) (2024)
- [Radial Spike and Slab Bayesian Neural Networks for Sparse Data in Ransomware Attacks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.14759/) (2022)
- [On the Generalizability of Machine Learning-based Ransomware Detection in Block Storage](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.21084/) (2024)
- [Towards Trustworthy Keylogger detection: A Comprehensive Analysis of Ensemble Techniques and Feature Selections through Explainable AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.16103/) (2025)
- [Cost-Aware Hierarchical Multi-Agent Ransomware Detection and Family Attribution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.04820/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In recent years, ransomware has been one of the most notorious malware targeting end users, governments, and business organizations. It has become a very profitable business for cybercriminals with revenues of millions of dollars, and a very serious threat to organizations with financial loss of billions of dollars. Numerous studies were proposed to address the ransomware threat, including surveys that cover certain aspects of ransomware research. However, no study exists in the literature that gives the complete picture on ransomware and ransomware defense research with respect to the diversity of targeted platforms. Since ransomware is already prevalent in PCs/workstations/desktops/laptops, is becoming more prevalent in mobile devices, and has already hit IoT/CPS recently, and will likely grow further in the IoT/CPS domain very soon, understanding ransomware and analyzing defense mechanisms with respect to target platforms is becoming more imperative. In order to fill this gap and motivate further research, in this paper, we present a comprehensive survey on ransomware and ransomware defense research with respect to PCs/workstations, mobile devices, and IoT/CPS platforms. Specifically, covering 137 studies over the period of 1990-2020, we give a detailed overview of ransomware evolution, comprehensively analyze the key building blocks of ransomware, present a taxonomy of notable ransomware families, and provide an extensive overview of ransomware defense research (i.e., analysis, detection, and recovery) with respect to platforms of PCs/workstations, mobile devices, and IoT/CPS. Moreover, we derive an extensive list of open issues for future ransomware research. We believe this survey will motivate further research by giving a complete picture on state-of-the-art ransomware research.