Ransomware and the places that worry about it most
Ransomware is predicted to cost businesses over $265 billion worldwide by 2031 according to Cybersecurity Ventures. New research from Ottowa-based managed services firm Firewall Technical has analyzed search data relating to ransomware attacks and come up with some interesting results.
Wannacry is the most searched for ransomware attack. With 6,830 related searches every month, the ransomware is still causing problems worldwide even though it was released back in 2017.
Next on the list is Ryuk, considered to be one of the most dangerous ransomware attacks by cyber security professionals and accountable for some of the highest ransom demands around the world, with 4,860 searches. This followed in third place by Petya with 1,900.
The study also explores the locations where people are performing these ransomware searches from. Looking at searching for protection against malware and viruses the most per 100,000 population, in the US, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, Oregon and New Hampshire are the states most concerned with cyberattacks. Kentucky, Alabama, South Dakota, Louisiana and Mississippi are the least concerned.
In the UK, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Swindon and Newcastle upon Tyne are the cities with most searches. Bradford, Birkenhead, Newport, Manchester and Brent have the least.
Bitdefender and Norton360 are the most searched for solutions in the US, while in the UK it's Kaspersky and Bitdefender.
The study was carried out using data from the last three months from search engine tools Ahrefs, Google Keyword Planner and KWFinder.
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