Here’s Why Ransomware is Dominating the News

If it seems to you that every big malware alert that’s been popping up lately has had something to do with ransomware, it’s because you’re pretty much right. Nearly half of all companies worldwide have been struck in the past year; that ratio remains constant on the national scale within the United States.

What’s more, these companies were not just those that had been hit once. A full 41 percent of United States businesses had come across between one-and-five attacks, another 6 percent seeing six or more.

Ransomware, the malware that holds your files ransom until you pay to have them released, has received varied responses from businesses in differing countries. Canadian enterprises that were struck paid the demanded ransoms at a rate of 75 percent, while 22 percent of German companies paid up.

Conversely, the companies based in the United States have refused to pay these ransoms at a rate of 97 percent. This would seem to be because the majority of attacks in the United States were more apt to strike the lower-level employees of a company, and less likely than other countries to spread from that point of access into a company’s network.

A large contributor to the popularity of ransomware could possibly be cyber criminals treating ransomware programs as though they were spam messages, sending out untargeted, blanket attacks in the hopes of making money as part of a low-profit, high volume system. US demands tend to stay in the $500-or-lower range. Again, differing from the US, German ransomware demands tend to reach amounts of $10,000 and up.

Clearly, this form of malware is no joke, and is almost certainly here to stay - which means it is critical to be well-informed about this computerized thievery, in order to better defend yourself. Some fast facts as the more common forms of entry for ransomware:

• 31 percent of ransomware enters a business or enterprise through an email link.
• 28 percent enters through an email attachment.
• 49 percent infects a desktop system upon entry.
• 36 percent strikes through a laptop.

Also, it’s important to keep in mind that ransomware can spread in more ways than what’s listed above. Therefore, your best defense is to make sure your staff is aware of this threat and prepared for every way that it can strike your network.

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