Most types of ransomware software "lock" the files on a victim's computer by encrypting them with a key that the hackers withhold until a ransom payment is made. In the early days of these tools, payment was typically made with wire transfer, prepaid cards or by SMS and mobile payments.
Now payment is almost always demanded in bitcoin.
http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-root-cause-ransomware/An article which is bang on. When ransomware has been around for more than 25 years, why blame Bitcoin?
It is just that the mainstream media emphasizes the bitcoin part of the whole ransomware story, not focusing on the lax security practices of the computer users.
