Ransomware Trends from Symantec ISTR 2017

Higher Costs

In 2016 the mean average payment demanded from ransomware attacks more than doubled to undefined per attack, and that is excluding the unusually high demand of undefined,730 demanded by MIRCORP.  

More Attacks

Not only is the amount that cyber criminals are demanding per attack on the rise, but so too is the number of attacks actually taking place. On average, there were 1270 ransomware attacks around the globe each day in 2016.

Risks To Business

Although consumers are still the biggest target of these type of attacks, over 30% of the attacks included in the report were on businesses. And now the attacks are designed to affect the entire business IT network, by gaining access to the network through a vulnerable device and then mapping all available devices to expose the most valuable data.

More Devices

Traditionally Windows devices were the main target of ransomware attacks, but new threats have been seen on Android devices including mobile phones and smart TVs, as well as Mac devices.

Best practice

Symantec echoes our advice for avoiding ransomware.

• Keep your security software up to date
• Keep your operating Software and other software up to date to benefit from security patches
• Get wise to email fraud - delete suspicious emails
• Unless it’s a trusted source, don’t enable macros on a Microsoft Office email attachment
• Backup your data so that it can be restored once the infection has been cleared up

Backup services and security software are available directly through PCM, and we manage all of the set-up and ongoing management for you.

We have been using PCMs Remote Backup for a couple of years.  It is, without doubt, the most efficient and easy-to-use backup system that I have ever used in an office.  It is smooth, reliable, easy to use and does everything without me having to worry about it.  Last year, one of our PCs had to be wiped clean and reformatted. I knew that all of the documents were safely stored by PCM - and were also rapidly uploaded to the newly restored computer with a minimum of fuss.  Real peace of mind!

Rachel Tyrrell, The Survey Association

Source: https://www.symantec.com/security-center/threat-report