The ransomware threat in numbers
Over the last year, ransomware has grown in sophistication and diversity
Ransomware continues to spread quickly and widely across the world, tightening its hold on the data and devices of both individuals and businesses.
Over the last year, ransomware has grown in sophistication and diversity. Kaspersky's Security Bulletin the evolution of ransomware, including key developments from the last 12 months, including the main trends and discoveries, as well as what measures are being taken to fight back against it.
A business is attacked by ransomware every 40 seconds
Attacks on businesses increased three-fold between January and the end of September, rising from an attack every two minutes to one every 40 seconds. For individuals, the rate of increase went from every 20 seconds to every 10 seconds. Overall, 23.9% of ransomware attacks are targeting corporates, up from 17% at the beginning of 2016.
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A quarter of all users were attacked by CTB-Locker ransomware
Cerber and Locky arrived in the early spring; nasty, virulent strains of ransomware that are propagated widely through spam attachments and exploit kits. CryptXXX appeared a little later on, but established itself with the other two as a major player', targeting individuals and corporates. All three families continue to evolve alongside well-established incumbents such as CTB-Locker, CryptoWall and Shade.
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42% of small and medium-sized businesses were hit by ransomware last year
According to Kaspersky Lab research, in 2016, one in five businesses worldwide suffered an IT security incident as a result of a ransomware attack. As a result, small and medium-sized businesses are increasingly struggling with ransomware attacks, with 42% of them being hit by ransomware in the last 12 months. Of those affected, 32% paid the ransom, but one in five never got their files back, even after paying.
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The number of new ransomware modifications has increased by eleven-fold
62 new ransomware families appeared in 2016, bringing with them a vast increase in the number of new ransomware modifications: 32,091 in Q3 from 2,900 in Q1, an increase of 11-fold. Locky ransomware, a new addition last spring, has so far been spread across 114 countries.
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One in five IT and education businesses was affected by ransomware
Social engineering and human error remain key factors in corporate vulnerability. One in five cases involving significant data loss came about through employee carelessness or lack of awareness. Some industry sectors, including education and IT/telecoms are harder hit than others, but the research shows that all industries are at risk; there's no such thing as a low-risk sector any more.
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Companies are still paying ransoms to cyber criminals despite official adviceNews A Proofpoint survey found evolving ransomware techniques and the use of AI is exacerbating the situation for victims
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This one cyber crime group accounted for nearly a fifth of all ransomware attacks in JuneNews The Gentlemen, a ransomware a service operator, now accounts for 17% of published attacks
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Working with the enemy: Ransomware negotiator-turned cyber criminal jailed after working with hackers to extort clientsNews Angelo Martino was supposed to be negotiating on behalf of victims, but was secretly working for ransomware operators
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Hackers are posing as Interpol to target small businesses – here's what you need to knowNews Small businesses are warned to think twice before clicking on links
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‘Every hour ransomware goes undetected drastically increases its potential blast radius’: Hackers are breaching networks and laying low for longer – and nearly half of firms don’t realize until data is stolenNews An ExtraHop survey found more intrusions are going undetected, leading to longer dwell times
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Ransomware cartels are fragmenting into volatile splinter groups, warns Met Police cyber chiefNews Commoditized "cyber crime bazaars" and AI data mining are forcing law enforcement to rewrite its playbook
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New ransomware threat group, The Gentlemen, has become one of the most active ransomware operators, accounting for 10% of all attacksNews NTT researchers warn that the RaaS group is leveraging SystemBC malware to establish covert tunnelling, evade detection, and support rapid lateral movement across enterprise environments
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Instructure chose to a pay ransom following the Canvas cyber attack – research shows more than half of security leaders would follow suitAnalysis Opting to pay ransoms creates huge risks for enterprises – you’re relying on the word of criminals
