Ransomware is the fastest growing security threat to organisations, according to Trend Micro's 1H Security Roundup Report.
Not only did the occurrence of ransomware families nearly double between the first half of 2015 and first half of 2016, 79 brand new families appeared in the first six months of this year. Many of these new families were specifically developed to attack enterprise-based machines and endpoints, including Crysam, Zcrypt, Crypjoker, Crypradam and Powerware.
These incidents caused huge losses for US businesses - $209 million to be precise - but many of them could have been avoided had the companies taken precautions against them, including educating staff about the risk of ransomware and the damage it can cause, Trend Micro said.
More than half (58 per cent) of the attacks originated from attachments in emails, although Trend Micro explained cybercriminals are becoming more intelligent in their methods use to spread such attacks. For example, Jigsaw threatens to delete a number of files for every hour a ransom isn't paid, while Surprise ransomware increases the ransom amount if the victim does not meet the payment deadline set out by the criminal.
"Ransomware is capable of crippling organizations who face it, and the cybercriminals spearheading these attacks are creatively evolving on a continuous basis to keep enterprises guessing," said Raimund Genes, chief technology officer for Trend Micro.
"It has dominated the threat landscape so far in 2016, causing immense losses to businesses across multiple industries. Enterprises must adopt multi-layered security solutions to optimally combat these threats that could attempt to penetrate corporate networks at any time."
-
Hackers breached a 158 year old company by guessing an employee password – experts say it’s a ‘pertinent reminder’ of the devastating impact of cyber crimeNews A Panorama documentary exposed hackers' techniques and talked to the teams trying to tackle them
-
The ransomware boom shows no signs of letting up – and these groups are causing the most chaosNews Thousands of ransomware cases have already been posted on the dark web this year
-
Everything we know about the Ingram Micro cyber attack so farNews A cyber attack on Ingram Micro severely disrupted operations and has been claimed by the SafePay ransomware group.
-
A prolific ransomware group says it’s shutting down and giving out free decryption keys to victims – but cyber experts warn it's not exactly a 'gesture of goodwill'
News The Hunters International ransomware group is rebranding and switching tactics
-
Swiss government data published following supply chain attack – here’s what we know about the culpritsNews Radix, a non-profit organization in the health promotion sector, supplies a number of federal offices, whose data has apparently been accessed.
-
Ransomware victims are getting better at haggling with hackersNews While nearly half of companies paid a ransom to get their data back last year, victims are taking an increasingly hard line with hackers to strike fair deals.
-
LockBit data dump reveals a treasure trove of intel on the notorious hacker groupNews An analysis of May's SQL database dump shows how much LockBit was really making
-
‘I take pleasure in thinking I can rid society of at least some of them’: A cyber vigilante is dumping information on notorious ransomware criminals – and security experts say police will be keeping close tabsNews An anonymous whistleblower has released large amounts of data allegedly linked to the ransomware gangs
