Ransomware attacks in the UK increased by 80% in the last three months as hackers continue to take advantage of mass remote working, according to security researchers at Check Point.
The findings show that the daily global average of ransomware attacks jumped 50% in last 3 months, compared to first half of 2020.
Countries with the most notable increase in ransomware attacks were the US (98.1%), where the most often targeted sector was healthcare, as well as Germany (145%), Spain (160%), and Sri Lanka, which saw attacks skyrocketed by 436%.
Canon hit by suspected Maze ransomware attack The most popular ransomware strains targeting UK businesses IBM: Ransomware incidents "exploded" in June
The most often used ransomware strains in the last three months were found to be Maze and Ryuk. According to Check Point, the latter now attacks an average of 20 organisations a week.
Check Point’s head of Threat Intelligence Lotem Finkelsteen said that ransomware is “breaking records in 2020”.
“The increase in ransomware attacks began with the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, as organizations scrambled to enact remote workforces, leaving significant gaps in their IT systems.
"However, the last three months alone have shown alarming surges in ransomware attacks, and I suspect the ransomware threat to get far more worse as we approach the new year,” he said, urging organisations “to be extra vigilant”.
According to Finkelsteen, the most significant drivers behind the recent surge in attacks are the victims’ willingness to pay, as well as the rise in increasingly sophisticated attacks, such as Double Extortion and the Emotet malware, which recently made a comeback after five month of absence.
Last week, the US Treasury warned that companies that agree to hand over cash to hackers to free their systems from ransomware may face prosecution or penalties.
RELATED RESOURCE
The advisory cited cyber attacks that were linked to hacking groups from North Korea and Russia, which are both nations sanctioned by the US. The US government often imposes economic and trade sanctions on countries that it deems sponsors terrorism or that violate human rights.
In order to ensure an organisations safety, Check Point’s security researchers recommended taking additional precautions, such as educating employees on how to identify and avoid potential ransomware attacks, ensuring that all systems have the latest patches applied, and maintaining regular backups of data.
-
RSAC Conference 2025: The front line of cyber innovationITPro Podcast Ransomware, quantum computing, and an unsurprising focus on AI were highlights of this year's event
-
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei thinks we're burying our heads in the sand on AI job lossesNews With AI set to hit entry-level jobs especially, some industry execs say clear warning signs are being ignored
-
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
-
It's been a bad week for ransomware operatorsNews A host of ransomware strains have been neutralized, servers seized, and key players indicted
-
Everything we know about the Peter Green Chilled cyber attackNews A ransomware attack on the chilled food distributor highlights the supply chain risks within the retail sector
-
Scattered Spider: Who are the alleged hackers behind the M&S cyber attack?News The Scattered Spider group has been highly active in recent years
-
Ransomware attacks are rising — but quiet payouts could mean there's more than actually reported
News Ransomware attacks continue to climb, but they may be even higher than official figures show as companies choose to quietly pay to make such incidents go away.
-
Cleo attack victim list grows as Hertz confirms customer data stolen – and security experts say it won't be the lastNews Hertz has confirmed it suffered a data breach as a result of the Cleo zero-day vulnerability in late 2024, with the car rental giant warning that customer data was stolen.
-
‘Phishing kits are a force multiplier': Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25 – and experts warn it’s lowering the barrier of entry for amateur hackersNews Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
