There really are organizations called Evil Corp. and DarkSide, and you should be worried about them. You should be concerned as a person who can be personally impacted by what they can do, as a business by what they have done and will do, and as lawyers by the fact that the tools the legal system has to combat them are limited, for now.

Evil Corp. and DarkSide are only two of the many entities that engage in cyberattacks that include ransomware. Ransomware is malware that enters a computer system by exploiting a vulnerability (such as through an old, unused VPN, a remote access port, or a phishing scam) and encrypts data on a computer system, rendering it unusable until a “ransom” is paid. Payment of ransom is exchanged for data decryption. The FBI is currently investigating over 100 different types of ransomware, some with exotic names such as Hades, Greek God of the Dead, and Phoenix Locker.