Tag Archive for: pandemic

Data extortion ransomware attacks on retailers up over 1,000% during pandemic

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Retail organisations reported an increase in ransomware attacks using data extortion in 2020.

According to a new report from global cybersecurity technology company, CrowdStrike, there was a surge in ransomware attacks during the pandemic, with 142 data extortion attacks on retailers in 2020, making it the fourth most-targeted industry globally, up 1,280% by the end of 2020 compared to pre-pandemic in Q1 2020.

Overall during the year data extortion became the most used attack method across all sectors – with 1,430 incidents reported globally in 2020.

Ransomware is malicious software that infects computers and displays messages demanding a fee to be paid in order for a system to work again.

The most targeted sector in 2020 for these kind of attacks was Industrials & Engineering recording 229 successful attacks, followed by Manufacturing at 228 attacks and Technology at 145 attacks.

Although the retail sector may not have been hit the hardest, the estimated economic cost of ransomware attacks on retailers and their associated supply chains could be as high as $85bn to $193bn (£60bn to £138bn) globally.

North America recorded the highest levels of ransomware attacks in 2020 using data extortion at 947 incidents. This is 177% higher than Europe at 342 incidents in second place and 1,313% higher than Asia in third place at 67 incidents.

According to CrowdStrike, 72% of organisations surveyed said they were more concerned about ransomware attacks now, during the Covid-19 pandemic, than before the virus outbreak.

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Israeli cyber industry records 70% growth in investments during pandemic

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With many businesses forced to move their activity online, cybercriminals step up their actions against the vulnerable targets, in turn prompting potential victims to seek more security, with 25% of all global investments in cybersecurity going to Israel

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Restructuring of networks amid pandemic made India vulnerable to ransomware

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The sudden rush to provide remote access to employees by restructuring network and security systems during the lockdown made India vulnerable to ransomware attacks in the third quarter of current year, according to cyber security firm Check Point Software Technologies.


Due to the immediate push, several IT companies were unable to scale up their cloud security postures which led to increased opportunity for cyber criminals to carry out attacks, Check Point Software Technologies India and SAARC Managing Director Sundar N Balasubramanian told PTI.



According to the company’s research, India was ranked second after the US among the top 5 countries most affected by ransomware attacks in the third quarter.


Sri Lanka, Russia and Turkey were at third, fourth and fifth position, respectively, in the list of most affected countries by ransomware attacks.


In a survey by Check Point, 71 per cent of respondents globally, including in India, reported an increase in cyberattacks during February-March 2020, and 95 per cent said they faced added IT security challenges with provision of large-scale remote access for employees and managing shadow IT usage.


“The pandemic outbreak resulted in lockdown restrictions being imposed, and working from home became a way of life for most employees. Organizations in India found themselves having to restructure their network and security fabrics overnight, compressing several years’ worth of IT changes into just a few weeks,” Balasubramanian said when asked about the reason for increase in cyberattacks in India.


He said that in the rush to enable remote access, many companies allowed connectivity from unmanaged home personal computers that often lacked basic cyberhygiene such as updated software patches, anti-malware, among others. Even personal mobile devices were allowed access to networks.


“In addition, many Infosec (information security) and DevOps (development and operations) teams rushing to the cloud did not scale their cloud security postures to the level of their traditional data centres. All this resulted in increased opportunities for cyber criminals to carry out…

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Ransomware attacks on the rise during pandemic

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Cases of cyber ransomware are on the rise during the pandemic. Criminals are targeting hospitals and schools, with vulnerable remote learning environments. Federal officials expect that will continue through the 2021 academic year.

Teachers in Huntsville, Alabama are printing their lessons on paper after cyber criminals hit the district with a ransomware attack locking down the computer network. “It’s terrible to see a district with some motivated employees moving forward to then have one more obstacle like this,” says William Tunnell with the Alabama Education Association.

Officials are not revealing how much ransom the hackers demand, but Huntsville is far from alone. School computer systems in Baltimore County and Hartford, Connecticut were also hit this year.

Cyber security expert Scott Schober says municipalities, businesses, and even hospitals are ransomware targets. Criminals often send a fake email to employees with a link. Clicking on it downloads malware and allows the hacker into the network. “And now the cybercriminal works laterally through the computer networks to then find the target machine or machines and then encrypt the data and send them the ransom note,” says Schober.

Some ransom notes demand money to restore access to the computer network. Internet security company SonicWall says cases surged 40 percent this year. The average payment also climbed from a few thousand dollars in 2018 to more than 230-thousand dollars. Schober says, “Usually it’s done with digital currency, crypto currency, bitcoin is the preferred choice so the criminals can remain anonymous.”

Security experts say it’s vital for hospitals and every business to have a strong network backup system to thwart ransomware attacks. In October, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security warned of coordinated cyber-attacks on the healthcare industry.

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