Increased user awareness of phishing threats, better antivirus technology, more industry-wide information sharing and cross-border efforts by law enforcement authorities will combine to turn the tide against ransomware this year, according to some security experts, but others expect the attacks to continue to increase.

According to a security expert who requested anonymity, ransomware cyber-criminals took in about $1 billion last year, based on money coming into ransomware-related Bitcoin wallets.