Kaspersky tells ransomware victims not to pay up
If your organization ever gets infected by ransomware (and there are good chances it will) it is better not to pay up because you probably won’t get your data back, even if you do pay the ransom.
This is according to a new report by security firm Kaspersky Lab, which urges organizations to instead report the incident to the authorities. It bases its conclusions on a couple of research results -- more than a third (36 percent) of organizations pay the ransom, but around 20 percent still don’t get their files back.
Datto launches new ransomware protection for SMBs
We already know that ransomware is a lucrative business for the attackers. But for the victims, especially smaller businesses, it can prove devastating.
A new solution offering enterprise-class ransomware protection for small and mid sized companies is being launched by data protection specialist Datto. In the event of an attack it aims to shorten downtime, save money and reduce the impact to business, giving companies an effective and reliable alternative to paying hackers' ransoms.
Healthcare staff lack basic cyber security awareness
The consequences of a security breach in the healthcare sector can be severe, yet a new survey reveals that healthcare staff are among the most likely to fall victim to social engineering attacks.
The study from SecurityScorecard exposes vulnerabilities across 700 healthcare organizations including medical treatment facilities, health insurance agencies and healthcare manufacturing companies.
Why anti-malware protection isn't a 'thing' you can buy [Q&A]
Threats like ransomware means it’s more important than ever to keep your computers safe both online and off.
Emsisoft has just released Anti Malware 12, the latest version of its respected anti-malware software, and Christian Mairoll, the company’s CEO, took time to speak to me about the ever evolving threat landscape, the best ways to keep your system safe, and the benefits of paid versus free solutions.
Netskope expands its Threat Protection product to cover ransomware
Ransomware is increasingly big business and more than 43 percent of malware types are used to deliver it. It can also be unwittingly spread via the use of cloud services.
To protect against the threat, cloud security company Netskope is adding ransomware detection and recovery capabilities to its Netskope Threat Protection product.
Ransomware becomes biggest security threat on Android
Android users, beware. Ransomware for your favorite mobile operating system is picking up -- it's now the main threat in the US, UK, Germany, Denmark and Australia, in the first half of 2016.
These are the figures from security organization Bitdefender. Its report claims the Android SLocker ransomware family accounts for almost half of all mobile malware reported by infected devices in the first half of 2016 in Denmark.
Some UK businesses don't know what ransomware is
More than one in ten (11 percent) of all UK organizations have never even heard of ransomware, Trend Micro claims. Another 20 percent don't know how the malware works. Yet, more than four fifths, or 82 percent to be exact, consider malware a threat.
This general lack of knowledge about ransomware best reflects in how the organizations in question think ransomware originates. A third (33 percent) of them know it comes from malicious email attachments. However, a quarter (24 percent) believe ransomware infections come from clicking a link in an email, and 14 percent think it happens if you simply browse the web.
Education and government suffer most from ransomware
The highest rates of ransomware are now found in the education and government sectors according to the findings of a new report from BitSight.
The report looks at how ransomware is impacting almost 20,000 companies in six major industries: finance, retail, healthcare, energy/utilities, government and education. The findings show that the rate of new ransomware strains, such as Locky and Cryptowall, has spiked over the last couple of years, and numerous industries are beginning to fall victim to these ransomware attacks.
Ransomware is lucrative: Attacker's profits near $100 million
Hackers are increasingly targeting healthcare institutions with malware because of their poor cyber-security posture, reliance on legacy IT systems, third-party services and the need to access information as soon as possible in order to deliver great patient care. These are the conclusions released in a new report entitled McAfee Labs Threats Report: September 2016.
It says that hospitals paid almost $100,000 (£75,500) to a specific bitcoin account. In the first half of 2016, one "actor" (it could be a single hacker, but more likely a group) apparently received $121 million in ransomware (189,813 bitcoin), targeting various industries. This actor, according to the report, has had profits of $94 million in the first six months of this year.
New version of RAA ransomware only goes after business users
A new version of the RAA ransomware was found recently by security researchers at Kaspersky Lab. This one, written completely in Jscript, seems to be targeting business users exclusively, the researchers claim.
It comes as they all do: through an email with the malicious attachment. This one, however, comes in a password-protected zip file. This method does two things:
Why ransomware should be feared by companies of all sizes
Ransomware is a powerful cyberthreat that can bring any organization to its knees. It’s a popular tactic among hackers looking for financial gain, or to take down an organization for political or moral reasons -- and it works. In 2015, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 2,453 complaints identified as ransomware, resulting in more than $1.6 million in company losses.
While some think ransomware is only a threat to large enterprises or government organizations, recent activity shows that it doesn’t discriminate based on the size or significance of an organization. According to a warning from the FBI earlier this year: "Hospitals, school districts, state and local governments, law enforcement agencies, small businesses, large businesses—these are just some of the entities impacted recently by ransomware, an insidious type of malware that encrypts, or locks, valuable digital files and demands a ransom to release them".
Ransomware: 3 seconds to encryption
Imagine how you would feel if everything on your entire PC hard drive was encrypted, and somebody was demanding a large sum of money from you to make it accessible? This scenario is exactly what happens to thousands of people every day when they are infected with ransomware, and it is essentially a digital hold up. Though your life is not in danger, you face the imminent threat of catastrophic consequences from the loss of irreplaceable data.
Much of the attention in the industry is focused on the damage caused by ransomware. The common belief is that most ransomware infections are caused by human carelessness, so there is no guarantee that you will never get infected. So the focus really needs to be about how to detect and respond to a ransomware infection.
Ransomware: How to identify the threat and protect yourself against it
Ransomware has affected over 13.1 million US citizens. That’s 4 percent of the entire US population. Half of those people will pay a steep ransom of up to $500 to retrieve their information.
Do not let this be you. Arm yourself against the epidemic and read on to find out how keep yourself from being a part of the statistic.
Ransomware-as-a-service tool generates $195,000 profit in July
There are a number of high profile ransomware programs doing the rounds at the moment and we know that it can generate lucrative returns for the people behind it.
But just as in the legitimate commercial world, the as-a-service model is starting to gain traction with attackers. Security vendor Check Point is releasing details of Cerber, which it believes is the world's biggest ransomware-as-a-service scheme.
Application control is a solid defense against ransomware
Application control, such as greylisting, paired with selective local admin rights management, is 100 percent effective against ransomware and unwanted file encryption.
This is according to CyberArk Labs’ new report, based on the analysis of more than 23,000 real-world samples from common ransomware families, such as Cryptolocker, Petya and Locky. More than 30 different malware families were tested, and the results posted in the report entitled Analyzing Ransomware and Potential Mitigation Strategies.
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