The paralysis of the UK’s National Health Service’s computer resources caused by the WannaCry ransomware this week is perhaps the scariest example of the malicious software at work. (I used to joke about ransomware by telling the anecdote of a friend who was ‘caught with his pants down’ by ransomware while surfing porn sites).

However, rumors that the vulnerability exploited by WannaCry had been previously identified by America’s National Security Agency has turned amusement into terror. It’s not far-fetched to see such malicious code factories take a cue from AWS or VPN services and offer Ransomware-as-a-Service.