Data Security & Compliance Blog

Knowing how to detect ransomware is more critical now than ever before. Ransomware attacks are on the rise. According to recent research, the number of ransomware attacks nearly doubled in the first half of 2021, with the United States being the most targeted country – accounting for roughly 55% of infections. What is Ransomware? Ransomware is a form of malware that, once executed, will encrypt the victim’s files, databases, or … Read more

Knowing how to react to a ransomware attack is crucial, as ransomware continues to disrupt businesses across the globe, with a 93% increase in the last 6 months alone. To make matters worse, increasingly more attackers are using the “Triple Extortion” technique, which is where the attackers steal sensitive data before initiating the attack, and then threaten to publicly disclose the data unless a payment is made. Preventing such attacks … Read more

Ransomware attacks are on the rise. We saw an increase in the proportion of attacks that involve ransomware or some form of malware in 2020, and we will expect to see this trend continue into 2021. According to a report on the cybersecurity threatscape by Positive Technologies, ransomware is “hitting companies with increasing frequency” – accounting for 39% of all attacks involving malware. The line between a ransomware attack and … Read more

One of the biggest challenges we face when it comes to protecting our networks from ransomware attacks is that there are very few warning signs that we can watch out for. A typical ransomware attack would arrive in the form of an email attachment, and as soon as the attachment is opened, the malicious program will begin encrypting the users’ files. There are, however, certain vulnerabilities and events we can … Read more

Ransomware attacks on both national and local authorities are on the rise, according to a recent report by Recorded Future. During the first quarter of 2019, there have been 21 reported attacks on Government agencies in the US – a number that is likely to rise as not all ransomware attacks are reported immediately. Only yesterday, Texas suffered a ransomware attack which affected 22 cities and towns. As opposed to … Read more

Over the last 12 months, we have seen a large number of cities in the USA become the victim of sophisticated ransomware attacks, including New York, Washington, Atlanta, Maryland and more. Baltimore, the most recent victim in this wave of ransomware attacks, experienced their second attack in the last 12 months. Thousands of computers in Baltimore’s city government were completely frozen on the 7th May 2019 after criminals got their … Read more

Well, let’s start with the good news. Overall, both Ransomware and Cryptojacking saw a noticeable decline during 2018. The not-so-good news is that Ransomware is still a growing threat to enterprises, who saw a 12% increase in attacks compared to the previous year. Additionally, 2018 saw an 30% increase in the number of mobile Ransomware infections – most of which affecting devices in the United States. There was, however, an … Read more

A strain of ransomware called SamSam was released towards the end of 2015 and continues to pose a serious threat to organizations of all sizes. Unlike other forms of ransomware, SamSam is very targeted and frequently updated in order to circumvent anti-virus tools and endpoint protection solutions. SamSam is even able to delete backups – one of our primary safeguards against ransomware attacks. Victims are requested to pay the ransom … Read more

Towards the end of last year, cyber-attacks that apparently bore the distinct signature of Ryuk ransomware struck numerous major news corporations, including the Los Angeles Times and Tribune Publishing. Cyber-attackers don’t take time off for the holidays like the rest of us! In the case of the Union-Tribune, it was reported that sports editors initially noticed that they were unable to transmit their finished pages to the printing facility. The … Read more

Ransomware remains a formidable threat to organizations worldwide. According to a recent survey conducted by Bitdefender, 75% of respondents experienced up to 5 attacks in the last 12 months alone, and organizations accounted for 42% of all ransomware infections. Though cyber-criminals have always targeted Microsoft products, the rapid growth in the popularity of Office 365 has made it a #1 target for ransomware attacks. Cerber, a recent strain of ransomware, … Read more