According to a recent research, 42% of security breaches in the UK in 2015 were down to ransomware.
The security reseller Foursys polled 400 UK IT managers and found about 62% expected security to be a higher priority this year. Nearly 15% reported a security breach in 2015, 42% said to have been infected with ransomware, 10% reported “significant disruption to systems”, and 11% claimed they’d lost data as a result.
According to James Miller, Foursys managing director, most attackers are looking for soft targets.
“They want a way in that will be efficient and cost-effective. So we are talking things like un-patched vulnerabilities in your applications, poor passwords – or unsuspecting staff that’ll hand over passwords – and insufficient or out-of-date security software,” he stated.
“The more impenetrable your castle, the more likely these criminals will be deterred.”
Foursys also claims that keeping patches up to date, running the latest version of security software, and pen testing to discover unknown vulnerabilities will help users to keep their computers better protected.
Also, it is very important to ensure staff are made aware of the latest threats and their potential impact on the business.
“Online extortion – whether it be by ransomware encrypting victims’ files and locking up computers, or demanding payment to stop blasting websites offline through denial-of-service attacks – is surging and only likely to get worse in the next six months,” said security consultant Graham Cluley.
“Unless companies take steps now to reduce the risks with a layered defence and recovery procedures they may find themselves struggling to cope.”
Over the last 12 months the sheer volume of new ransomware significanly increased. According Bitdefender, over 54% of all malware targeting UK users in 2015 contained some form of ransomware. That’s the reason why so many users are panicked into paying up rather than wave goodbye to important files. Meanwhile, CryptoWall ransomware managed to extort more than $325 million from US victims alone.
Nowadays, new ransomware is coming out all the time. Last September, Heimdal Security, found out a spam campaign, spreading ransomware with a 0% detection rate when run through all of the 57 anti-malware tools listed in VirusTotal.
