How does ransomware infect?

Ransomware most commonly infects through phishing emails with malicious attachments or links, exposed or weakly protected remote access (such as RDP), exploited software vulnerabilities, and compromised credentials. Some campaigns also arrive via malicious downloads or supply-chain compromise.

Once inside, it spreads from the initial foothold to reach as much valuable data as possible before encrypting. Because the entry point can be anywhere, Elastio focuses on the common endpoint of every attack — the data — and detects corruption inside it regardless of how the infection began.

Last updated May 27, 2026