Ransomware Remains Biggest Cyberthreat Issue, Says Kaspersky Lab

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 21 (Bernama) -- Ransomware has become the biggest issue when it comes to cyber threat in 2016 and it might spillover to next year, internet security firm Kaspersky Lab said. It said ransomware came in two forms, most common form was the cryptor, and they encrypted data on the victim’s device and demanded money in return for a promise to restore them. "The ransom demand, displayed across the screen, typically masquerades as a notice from a law enforcement agency, reporting that the victim has accessed illegal web content and indicating that they must pay an on-the-spot fine," it said. Speaking to reporters at a luncheon here Wednesday, Malaysia Territory Channel Manager Nicole Woo said this year, ransomware continued its rampage across the world, becoming more sophisticated and diverse, and tightening its hold on data and devices, individuals and businesses. "In 2016, ransomware attacks on business increased three-fold, representing a change from an attack every two minutes in January to one every 40 seconds by October. "For individuals, the rate of increase went from every 20 seconds to every 10 seconds. With more than 62 new families of ransomware introduced during the year, the threat grew so aggressively that Kaspersky Lab has named ransomware its key topic for 2016," she said. Woo said new approaches to ransomware attacks seen for the first time in 2016 included disk encryption, where attackers blocked access to, or encrypted, not just a couple of files, but all of them at once – Petya is one example. "Dcryptor, also known as Mamba, went one step further, locking down the entire hard drive, with the attackers brute-forcing passwords for remote access to a victim machine," she said. Disclosing Malaysian cyber threats statistics for November 2016, she said Kaspersky Lab detected 33,353 Internet-borne malware incidents in the country under the category of online web threats. "This places Malaysia 40th place worldwide when it comes to the dangers associated with surfing the web," Woo said. Under the offline local threats category, Kaspersky Lab detected 18,560 local malware incidents upon using flash drives, and connecting handphones and cameras, to a computer, she said, adding that this put Malaysia in the 73rd place worldwide. Kaspersky Lab is a global cybersecurity company founded in 1997 and its comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialised security solutions, as well as services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. -- BERNAMA