Ransomware isn’t going anywhere, and cybercriminals are stepping up their game increasing payments while also targeting backups more often to improve their chances of payment.
At this point, I think we’re all tired of hearing about ransomware. But cybercriminals are tuned into the ROI ransomware brings them and have turned up the heat on victims. According to Coveware’s recently released 2018 Q4 Ransomware Marketplace Report, we’re seeing some very disturbing – and yet revealing – trends in ransomware attacks:
- Ransoms have increased by an average of 13% over Q3 in 2018 to $6733
- Attacks on backups as part of the ransomware attack have increased by 39% over Q3 2018
- The average victim company size has risen from 38 to 71 employees
The attack on backups to decrease an organizations ability to recover instead of paying the ransom mixed with the ransom increase shows that cybercriminals know they have victims painted into a corner.
With 92% of malware still delivered by email, organizations need to be focused on stopping ransomware from ever getting in. This does include email and web scanning solutions, as well as Security Awareness Training to make users a part of the security strategy. Users that partake in frequent training are educated on how to identify phishing emails crafted to deliver ransomware, other malware, or social engineering scams.
From the looks of the trends, ransomware is definitely going to stay around for awhile, and likely become more a nuisance as cybercriminals improve their wares.
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