The scourge of ransomware hit new highs in 2015 and 2016 is turning out to be no bargain – particularly attacks against businesses as the payoffs are higher, the FBI said this week.

Ransomware attacks are not only proliferating, they’re becoming more sophisticated, the FBI stated.

+More on Network World: FBI warning puts car hacking on bigger radar screen+

“Several years ago, ransomware was normally delivered through spam e-mails, but because e-mail systems got better at filtering out spam, cyber criminals turned to spear phishing e-mails targeting specific individuals,” the FBI stated. And in newly identified instances of ransomware, some cyber criminals aren’t using e-mails at all. “These criminals have evolved over time and now bypass the need for an individual to click on a link. They do this by seeding legitimate websites with malicious code, taking advantage of unpatched software on end-user computers,” said FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director James Trainor in a statement.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here