Since its humble beginnings as bruit assaults, phishing has evolved into a more sophisticated and professional practise that targets random people with email campaigns. As improvements have been made to the technologies used to defend against ransomware attacks, the assaults themselves have also progressed. Even though there have been less ransomware attacks recently, they are unfortunately still occurring on a regular basis in modern times. Even a relatively straightforward ransomware assault can result in huge losses of both time and money for a company. And a significant assault has the potential to bring a whole business to its knees.
The most concerning aspect is that, as indicated by the ransomware figures for 2022, these assaults will not spare any firm. Anyone can fall prey to them, from newly established businesses to well-established corporations. When a company does not have a specific strategy about how it will tackle ransomware, the firm will suffer significant losses in terms of money, reputation, and important data as a result of these assaults. Take a look at our ransomware tracker to discover more about the various businesses that have been impacted by ransomware attacks over the past several years. In light of the fact that enterprises are currently confronted with extreme economic uncertainty, people and businesses alike need to manage and limit their risks while simultaneously preparing ahead.
Statistics on Ransomware for the Year 2022
If you haven’t made preparations for ransomware assaults, you should be especially anxious about the overall ransomware figures in 2022, which are certain to give you chills down your spine.
The analysis that was completed by CyberSecurity Ventures in 2018 predicts that by the year 2022, there would be an assault caused by ransomware every 11 seconds.
Statistics on cyberattacks that were recently made public by Symantec reveal that the percentage of ransomware assaults has decreased to 20% since they started falling for the first time in 2013.
According to Symantec, a major brand among internet security businesses, the drop in ransomware assaults is even more obvious because Petya, WannaCry, and other computer worms are not included in it. This is because these ransomware threats are not as widespread as they once were. If this is the case, the discount is 52%.
According to the ransomware statistics 2022 provided by statista, there were around 638 million or more ransomware infections registered throughout the world in 2016.
Common methods used in attacks
In 2016, assaults spiked dramatically. Although there were fewer assaults in 2017, they were far more successful.
Phishing emails were the main method used by Statistia to distribute ransomware assaults. Phishing emails and attachments made up around two thirds of the attack. Ransomware enters significant business networks in this way.
One of the most prevalent ways that ransomware spreads is through spam email campaigns. It is simpler to give them infected attachments and URLs. They are successful due to their individualised approach and capacity to enter complex security networks. Another significant factor in ransomware assaults, with a chance of infection of more than 33%, is most employees’ ignorance of how malware enters systems.
5 million Americans had to endure a ransomware attack between 2016 and 2017, according to figures from Stanford University.
Along with WannaCry, several ransomware strikes occurred around that time. During that period, symmetric cybersecurity professionals had to stop almost 40500 consumer infections.
According to the University of California-San Diego’s Ransomware Statistics 2022, the phrase “ransomware” was searched for much more frequently in 2016–17. Traffic has grown by almost 877% from 2016–17.
According to the Google strategist, it was the moment when ransomware grew into a significant industry as a result of certain significant ransom assaults in 2017.
Mac users are also not safe.
Despite the fact that Windows is one of the most popular OSs for businesses worldwide. Furthermore, it is thought to be the main target of ransomware assaults. Every cybersecurity expert advises Windows users to create a ransomware backup, but Mac users are also at risk.
Although Macs are thought to be relatively safe choices, threat detection on macs has now tripled in 2020, and a rise is anticipated in the next years. These gadgets are thought to be more lucrative for hackers due to their reputation as “Luxury Tech” and greater price point than windowed devices.
How Cryptocurrency Birth Ransomware Epidemic?
While technology is changing the face of the corporate sector and businesses, the financial scene has changed a lot. Cryptocurrency gained huge popularity in recent years for all the right reasons. However, it also gave birth to modern ransomware attacks as well. Because cryptocurrency cannot be traced, it helps cyber criminals to stay invisible while demanding payments from their victims. The most preferred one was the bitcoin by the ransomware attackers. Because of the secrecy provided by cryptocurrencies, it was challenging for victims to identify the attackers and retrieve their data.
The increasing popularity of cryptocurrency among businesses caused a huge spike in ransomware attacks. This ransomware epidemic billions of dollars of loss and loss of crucial business data. In the year 2022, there were a large number of ransomware attacks reported. It was much like an epidemic of ransomware attacks. A few major businesses were targeted by cybercriminals and they asked the ransom payment in crypto hosting. Businesses wanted their encrypted data back and they had limited deadlines. Once it is over, the ransom amount will be doubled. These attacks quickly became papular among cyber criminals and spread around like a pandemic. Their major targets were government institutions, hospitals, and other important infrastructures.
The Wannacry Attack: What Is It?
You could have seen the word mentioned above but have no idea what it refers to. Let’s simplify things for you, then. The EternalBlue exploit is used to transmit the Wannacry, also known as the Wanna Decryptor, WannaCrypt, and WannaCryptor.
The NSA released it. Hackers may enter a system immediately thanks to EternalBlue. This has an impact on several window system types. mostly those using outdated windows.
Is it possible for businesses to track the sources of ransomware?
Companies can be ready for ransomware attacks if they have adequate knowledge and a good ransomware backup. But company owners frequently ask themselves how to find the source of ransomware. The following actions can be useful in this regard: Learn about the common file extensions first. Even though there are a lot of different file extensions and there always will be, file activity monitoring may be put in place.
The file’s history and current state can both be accessed. Ransomware may be effectively stopped with the use of a forgone network share or other early warning system. It won’t have access to any of your crucial information. Use a drive letter, such as E:, that comes before the right drive mappings. On the old, sluggish discs of the network share, add thousands of small, random, and meaningless files. Your staff should get network security training. Inform them of the methods used by ransomware to infiltrate your network. To prevent any serious problems in the near future, successfully teach kids the fundamentals. To sum up You may assess the potential threat of this assault by looking at the ransomware data. mostly because it is quiet and first difficult to distinguish. Never should a corporation ignore the threat of ransomware attacks. For enterprises, a reliable ransomware backup should always be available.