[brownbat]

Oh don't worry, now they're deleting your files and extorting you to restore them.

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/11/cryptolocker-crew-ratchet...

Wanton destruction like the old days, now fueled by profit motive.

[eli]

It might be true that its use is on the rise, but that's an old idea. I encountered "ransomware" in the wild in the late 90s/early 2000s.