Ransom-ware attacks increased by 64 per cent between August 2020 and July 2021

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Ransom-ware attacks increased by 64 per cent between August 2020 and July 2021
Ransom-ware attacks increased by 64 per cent between August 2020 and July 2021

Of all ransom-ware attacks between August 2020 and July 2021, attacks on corporations, such as infrastructure, travel, financial services, and other businesses, made up to 57 per cent

A 64 per cent increase has been in ransom-ware attacks between August 2020 and July 2021, revealed a report on Thursday.

121 ransom-ware incidents were analysed between August 2020 and July 2021 by Barracuda, a cloud-enabled security solutions provider, in its latest Threat Spotlight.

They found many ransom-ware attacks are being led by a handful of high-profile ransom-ware gangs.

New ransom-ware strain DarkSide caused 8 per cent of the ransom-ware attacks, while ransom-ware gang Revil accounted for 19 per cent of the attacks.

“Ransom-ware criminals have refined their tactics to create a double extortion scheme. The initial steps towards safeguarding an organisation from possible ransom-ware attacks involve assuming vulnerability and setting a goal of not paying the ransom”, said Murali Urs, Country Manager, Barracuda Networks India, in a statement.

It is also “necessary to implement anti-phishing capabilities in email and other collaboration tools, and consistently train your users for email security awareness”, and “crucial to stay put with a secure data protection solution that can identify your critical data assets and implement disaster and recovery capabilities”, Urs said.

From trusted software vendors to IT service providers, ransom-ware criminals are penetrating the foundation of the digital economy across the globe.

Up from just 18 per cent in Barracuda Network’s 2020 study, of all ransom-ware attacks between August 2020 and July 2021, attacks on corporations, such as infrastructure, travel, financial services, and other businesses, made up to 57 per cent.

Infrastructure-related businesses account for 10 per cent of all the attacks. In fact, ransom-ware attacks are quickly evolving to software supply chain attacks, which reach more businesses in a single attempt

While analysing the ransom payment trends in the past years, Barracuda researchers are also witnessing a dramatic spike in the amount. The average ransom being demanded per incident is over $10 million dollars.

Only 18 per cent of the incidents had less than $10 million ransom demand, and 30 per cent of the incidents had greater than $30 million dollars ransom asks.

However, there have been multiple instances of victims reducing ransom payments by deploying negotiation tactics. JBS negotiated a $22.5 million ransom payment down to $11 million, and Brenntag, a chemical distributor in Germany, negotiated a $7.5 million ransom demand down to $4.4 million, the report said.

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