Ransomware attacks rise over 60 percent

In the last year, the US has experienced a dramatic 63 percent increase in ransomware attacks, with the UK seeing an even greater rise of 67 percent.

The latest State of Ransomware report from Malwarebytes shows the share of attacks carried out by gangs outside the top 15 increased from 25 percent to 31 percent, indicating that ransomware is becoming more accessible to a broader range of cybercriminals.

The US now accounts for 48 percent of all ransomware attacks worldwide but suffers 60 percent of the world's attacks on education and 71 percent of attacks on healthcare. The manufacturing sector has seen a 71 percent year-on-year increase in ransomware attacks, highlighting the need for robust cybersecurity measures in the industry as it seeks to digitize.

"Ransomware gangs have time and motivation on their side. They constantly evolve to respond to the latest technologies chasing at their tails," says Marcin Kleczynski, founder and CEO of Malwarebytes. "We've seen this very distinctly over the past year as widespread adoption of technologies like EDR has helped identify attackers before they launch malware, pushing ransomware gangs to work more quickly and put more effort into hiding themselves. Organizations and MSPs need additional support and continuous coverage to outmaneuver today's criminals."

The report also notes a shift in the tactics used by attackers. Living off the Land (LOTL) techniques have seen ransomware gangs increasingly relying on built-in system administration tools to carry out their attacks, making detection and prevention more challenging for teams without a dedicated Security Operations Center (SOC).

The timing of attacks has changed too with most ransomware attacks now occurring between 1 am and 5 am, targeting organizations when IT staff are less likely to be present. The entire ransomware attack timeline, from initial access to data encryption, has also reduced from weeks to mere hours, necessitating rapid detection and response capabilities.

You can get the full report from the Malwarebytes site.

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