Ransomware drains billions from the global economy each year and shows no signs of slowing down. The highest cost of a ransomware attack is no longer the ransom itself. Today, the bulk of the financial damage consists of downtime, tarnished reputations and regulatory fines.
Amateur hackers have amassed fortunes thanks to this crypto-viral extortion scheme. But things are beginning to change. Today’s advanced criminals are putting the original small crooks to shame. This paper analyzes the evolution of attackers’ methodology and the industries and geographical areas targeted most by ransomware in 2018.
Highlights:
- Obfuscation through sophistication – ransomware operators are becoming better at their craft
- Healthcare in the crosshairs – SamSam made a headline almost every week in H1 2018 as it infected healthcare institutions
- GandCrab – the most prevalent ransomware threat in operation, with a 50% share
- Bitdefender GandCrab decryptors – recovered data for more than 21,000 victims, saving an estimated $30 million in ransom money
- Ransomware stats over a two-year period – 2017 to 2019
- Defending your digital infrastructure – how to combat the evolving ransomware threat with a multi-layered defensive framework