U.S. Government: Ransomware Attacks Have Quadrupled This Year
Ransomware attacks have quadrupled this year over last year, averaging 4,000 per day, according to the U.S. Justice Department, The Wall Street Journal reported in a front-page story recently. This is because ransomware has become easier to deploy and more profitable than other scams, and bitcoin is more widely used. The FBI noted ransomware costs totaled $209 million in the first three months this year, compared to a total $24 million for all of 2015. Costs include lost productivity and time needed to recover files. Ransomware losses averaged $333,000 per incident in the first three....
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In fact, 1% of attacks saw a demand of US$150,000 to be paid in Bitcoin. Ransomware developers are always one step ahead of security researchers these days. Not only in the way their software works, but also how they target potential victims. American businesses are seeing an influx in ransomware attacks all of a sudden. More particularly, company executives are a prime target for ransom are right now. While nearly nine in ten ransomware attacks are targeting hospitals these days, corporations are not out of the woods just yet. A new study unveiled how 40% of businesses investigated had....
The FBI has changed its stance on ransomware extortionists saying people targeted should refuse to pay the bitcoin ransom despite a previous statement from the FBI encouraging victims to pay a ransom. At a recent Federal Trade Commission’s Fall Technology Series, supervisory special agent for the FBI’s Cyber Division, Will Bales, said that businesses or individuals targeted by ransomware should refuse to pay the ransom, as reported in Dark Reading. He said: People have to remember that ransomware does not affect just one person or one business. It will more than likely move on and affect....
Ransomware and Bitcoin make a great combination, but for all the wrong reasons. There was a sudden increase in the number of ransomware attacks earlier in this year which continued into the last few months. While these attacks continue even today, most of them usually go unreported in the media. Cryptowall is one of the widely used malware to launch ransomware attacks. The malware has been so good at doing its job that even the FBI has given up on it. What the guys behind it are using it for is a completely different story though. Who is behind all these ransomware attacks involving....
Chainalysis has stated that ransomware arrests will soon take place targeting cyber criminals behind ransomware attacks. Rise of Ransomware Attacks. Over the past six months, ransomware attacks have become an issue to government, business and healthcare organizations. In January, CCN reported that three banks and a pharmaceutical company in India had been targeted by a ransomware scheme with the ransom demand in bitcoins. Three Greek banks were reported hacked last November with the hackers demanding their ransom be paid in bitcoins. While the individuals in question were unable to gain....
The ransomware industry has exploded recently. Often, hackers demand bitcoin payments in order to restore computer systems. Bitcoin.com investigates what to do to prevent ransomware attacks. 2016 ‘The Year of Ransomware’. A report by McAfee Labs published in December revealed that the number of new ransomware samples totaled 3,860,603 in the third....