Ransomware attacks continue to escalate

In the second quarter of 2021, 740 companies were affected by this type of attack, 47% more than in the first three months of the year

(photo: Unsplash) Ransomware-type cyber attacks - those that they paralyze a system by demanding a ransom to unlock it - this year they are becoming the single thing that worries big companies around the world the most. The number of companies hit by ransomware according to new research is growing rapidly, not least because cybercriminal groups have refined their techniques to deliver these hits.

A report by cybersecurity experts Digital Shadows found that in the second quarter of 2021 740 companies were affected by this type of attack, 47% more than in the first three months of the year.

Ransomware has evolved significantly in recent years and is now a type double extortion attack, as TechRadar notes. Criminals not only demand a ransom for the decryption key, but also extract sensitive information from the company and threaten to release it on the dark web, for free or for sale, if their demands are not fulfilled.

In In recent months, new hacker groups such as Vice Society, Hive, Prometheus, Lv Ransomware, Xing and Grief have emerged, all with their own sites where they market the stolen data. Data sales increased 183% between the two quarters again according to the research.

The data collected shows that criminals prefer to target companies in the industrial goods and services sector, followed by materials, retail, technology and healthcare.

Among the most striking cases of ransomware attacks in recent months we must mention the one that has paralyzed one of the largest and most important oil pipelines in the United States, the Colonial Pipeline. This was followed by the blockade of the operations of JBS, one of the largest meat producers in the world. A few weeks ago a major attack on the US internet service provider, Kaseya, compromised thousands of businesses in America and around the world.

Most of the victims of the attacks in recent months are in the US - more than 350 - and the authors of the report believe that the ransomware threat will continue to grow in the third quarter of the year.


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