• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

Operation CargoTalon targets Russia’s aerospace with EAGLET malware,

 | 

Unpatched flaw in EoL LG LNV5110R cameras lets hackers gain Admin access

 | 

Koske, a new AI-Generated Linux malware appears in the threat landscape

 | 

Mitel patches critical MiVoice MX-ONE Auth bypass flaw

 | 

Coyote malware is first-ever malware abusing Windows UI Automation

 | 

SonicWall fixed critical flaw in SMA 100 devices exploited in Overstep malware attacks

 | 

DSPM & AI Are Booming: $17.87B and $4.8T Markets by 2033

 | 

Stealth backdoor found in WordPress mu-Plugins folder

 | 

U.S. CISA adds CrushFTP, Google Chromium, and SysAid flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

U.S. CISA urges FCEB agencies to fix two Microsoft SharePoint flaws immediately and added them to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Sophos fixed two critical Sophos Firewall vulnerabilities

 | 

French Authorities confirm XSS.is admin arrested in Ukraine

 | 

Microsoft linked attacks on SharePoint flaws to China-nexus actors

 | 

Cisco confirms active exploitation of ISE and ISE-PIC flaws

 | 

SharePoint under fire: new ToolShell attacks target enterprises

 | 

CrushFTP zero-day actively exploited at least since July 18

 | 

Hardcoded credentials found in HPE Aruba Instant On Wi-Fi devices

 | 

MuddyWater deploys new DCHSpy variants amid Iran-Israel conflict

 | 

U.S. CISA urges to immediately patch Microsoft SharePoint flaw adding it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Microsoft issues emergency patches for SharePoint zero-days exploited in "ToolShell" attacks

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Cyber Crime
  • Hacking
  • Malware
  • Ransomware infections suffered by companies tripled in 12 months

Ransomware infections suffered by companies tripled in 12 months

Pierluigi Paganini December 12, 2016

According to a new report published by Kaspersky Lab, the number of ransomware infections suffered by companies threefold from January to September.

The number of ransomware infections suffered by companies continues to increase and according to a new report published by the security firm Kaspersky Lab, it increased threefold from January to September.

One in every five businesses worldwide has been victims of a ransomware and the rate of ransomware attacks increased from one every two minutes to one every 40 seconds.

This alarming data confirm that the ransomware is one of the most dangerous threats in the current cyber security landscape.

Ransomware could have a dramatic impact on companies, 67 percent of the firm that was affected lost part or all of their corporate data and 25% victims spent several weeks trying to decrypt the data.

Experts from Kaspersky have detected 32,091 new ransomware variations in the third quarter, a significant increase compared to 2,900 variations discovered during the first quarter. According to the experts, 62 new ransomware families were observed in the wild this year.

The situation is even more worrisome when dealing with consumers, in their case the infection data reached one attack every 10 seconds in September.

In the criminal underground, such kind of threat is becoming even more popular, malware authors are developing new ransomware that presents sophisticated features and that are able to evade detection.

Ransomware allows criminal organizations to rapidly cash out their efforts, despite the numerous recommendation to avoid paying the ransom still a large number of victims prefer to pay it to decrypt their documents.

“Ransomware has completely dominated the current threat landscape,” explained Bharat Mistry, cyber-security consultant at Trend Micro.

“During the first part of 2016, we blocked and detected almost 80 million ransomware threats and identified 79 new ransomware families – comparing to 29 in the whole of 2015. That’s a 179 percent increase. Quite a few of those were built with routines that are designed to attack enterprise machine and endpoints. It’s time companies take heed.”

The analysis conducted by Kaspersky confirmed that SMBs are mostly targeted by ransomware, 42 percent of them suffered a ransomware-based attack over the past 12 months. Of those, one in three paid up the ransom, but one in five never got their files back, despite paying.

Giving a close look at the threats, CTB-Locker has represented one of the most dangerous threat. One of four ransomware victims was infected by the CTB-Locker. Other successful ransomware were Locky (7 percent) and TeslaCrypt (6.5 percent).

The researchers observed that ransomware infections are the result of more targeted attacks leveraging on spear-phishing messages and social engineering attacks against specific organizations.

Targeted attacks allow cyber criminals to maximize the likelihood victims will pay up the ransom.

How to defeat the ransomware?

Kaspersky urges companies to increase awareness about the threat by training its employees and to back up sensitive data regularly.

It is important to adopt security solutions and to maintain installed software up to date.

Below key figures of the report:

  • 62 new ransomware families made their appearance.
  • There was an 11-fold increase in the number of ransomware modifications: from 2,900 new modifications in January/March, to 32,091 in July/September.
  • Attacks on business increased three-fold between January and the end of September: the difference between an attack every 2 minutes and one every 40 seconds.
  • For individuals the rate of increase went from every 20 seconds to every 10 seconds.
  • One in five small and medium-sized business who paid the ransom never got their data back.

I suggest you read the report.

[adrotate banner=”9″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – ransomware, cybercrime)


facebook linkedin twitter

CTB-Locker Cybercrime extortion Locky malware ransomware spear phishing

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 25, 2025
Operation CargoTalon targets Russia’s aerospace with EAGLET malware,
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 25, 2025
Unpatched flaw in EoL LG LNV5110R cameras lets hackers gain Admin access
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    Operation CargoTalon targets Russia’s aerospace with EAGLET malware,

    Intelligence / July 25, 2025

    Unpatched flaw in EoL LG LNV5110R cameras lets hackers gain Admin access

    Security / July 25, 2025

    Koske, a new AI-Generated Linux malware appears in the threat landscape

    Malware / July 25, 2025

    Mitel patches critical MiVoice MX-ONE Auth bypass flaw

    Security / July 25, 2025

    Coyote malware is first-ever malware abusing Windows UI Automation

    Malware / July 24, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT