Ever since the pandemic striked, Cyber Criminals have been on the toll, sending out various malwares globally. In the first half of 2021, there were multiple incidents representing the infection of such malware amounting to a hefty 151% as compared to last year, as highlighted by Sonicwall in its report.
Most of you might remember the Maze ransomware attack last year that was significantly the biggest attack of that time, resulting in a $50-$70 loss in revenue, recovery, and relief efforts. Apart from it, there were 121.4 million ransomware attacks last year which are only a third compared to the attacks taken place already this year.
In 2021, Cyber Criminals have successfully attacked 304.7 million times for ransom. In all the years before, never has such a high rate ever been recorded yet. All these cases are just ransomware where we don't even know the percentage of all the cyber crimes taking place. The increase in ransomware is a result of the world converting online. When people turn their businesses into online ventures, they're willing to pay large sums to protect their businesses. This results in an increase in ransomware cases.
The country facing the highest toll rate is the US, being the largest rate. With the rate of organizations becoming prey in the last few years, it can be said that the predators won't leave organizations belonging to other countries alone either. The US alone has suffered from 227.3 million ransomware attack attempts, meaning they weren't all successful. Imagine receiving 865 threats every minute, no wonder cyber criminals are indeed having a feast.
The country second on the list is the UK. The difference is significant when compared to the US but the UK also has received a large number of threats, amounting to 14.6 million. Asking for ransom isn't the only motive behind the attacks on the UK organizations, in fact governmental organizations are targeted to try and retrieve confidential information.
The third country suffering is Germany that suffered from 11 million threats to date. The main problem here is a bit different than in all other regions as the main problem is the lack of awareness about ransomware threats resulting in no precautions and low security. These threats are usually targeted at the German small and medium enterprises (SME). Since these are smaller companies, they do not own enough resources and get attacked more frequently.
Germany is followed by South Africa, having a threat toll of 10.5 billion, followed closely behind by Brazil with 9 million, then by India at 3.8 million and Colombia with 3.7 million.
Ransomware isn't only a way to extort money but resources like credential information as well. It is increasing alarmingly every year and with the pandemic and low awareness, the chances of becoming a prey to these criminals is surging. The key is to spread awareness, strengthen security, and preparedness to reduce these attacks.
Read next: How Much Money Have We Lost to Cybercrime? This Report Has the Answer
Most of you might remember the Maze ransomware attack last year that was significantly the biggest attack of that time, resulting in a $50-$70 loss in revenue, recovery, and relief efforts. Apart from it, there were 121.4 million ransomware attacks last year which are only a third compared to the attacks taken place already this year.
In 2021, Cyber Criminals have successfully attacked 304.7 million times for ransom. In all the years before, never has such a high rate ever been recorded yet. All these cases are just ransomware where we don't even know the percentage of all the cyber crimes taking place. The increase in ransomware is a result of the world converting online. When people turn their businesses into online ventures, they're willing to pay large sums to protect their businesses. This results in an increase in ransomware cases.
The country facing the highest toll rate is the US, being the largest rate. With the rate of organizations becoming prey in the last few years, it can be said that the predators won't leave organizations belonging to other countries alone either. The US alone has suffered from 227.3 million ransomware attack attempts, meaning they weren't all successful. Imagine receiving 865 threats every minute, no wonder cyber criminals are indeed having a feast.
The country second on the list is the UK. The difference is significant when compared to the US but the UK also has received a large number of threats, amounting to 14.6 million. Asking for ransom isn't the only motive behind the attacks on the UK organizations, in fact governmental organizations are targeted to try and retrieve confidential information.
The third country suffering is Germany that suffered from 11 million threats to date. The main problem here is a bit different than in all other regions as the main problem is the lack of awareness about ransomware threats resulting in no precautions and low security. These threats are usually targeted at the German small and medium enterprises (SME). Since these are smaller companies, they do not own enough resources and get attacked more frequently.
Germany is followed by South Africa, having a threat toll of 10.5 billion, followed closely behind by Brazil with 9 million, then by India at 3.8 million and Colombia with 3.7 million.
Ransomware isn't only a way to extort money but resources like credential information as well. It is increasing alarmingly every year and with the pandemic and low awareness, the chances of becoming a prey to these criminals is surging. The key is to spread awareness, strengthen security, and preparedness to reduce these attacks.
