# Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS)

A criminal business model where ransomware developers rent or sell their malware to other attackers in exchange for a cut of the profits.

**Ransomware[↗](/ransomware)-as-a-service (RaaS)** is a criminal business model in which the developers of a ransomware strain lease or sell it to other attackers, called affiliates, who carry out the actual attacks. In return, the developers typically take a percentage of any ransom paid, similar to a legitimate software licensing arrangement.

RaaS has dramatically lowered the skill barrier for launching ransomware attacks, letting affiliates with little technical expertise deploy sophisticated malware[↗](/malware) built by professional developers. This division of labor is a major reason ransomware attacks have scaled up so quickly in recent years.