Security researchers , who specialize in monitoring and analyzing ransomware attacks, have noticed a sharp increase in them in recent months compared to the first six months of 2020.
According to recent reports from Check Point and IBM's Security X-Force Incident Response, the ransomware most used during this time are Maze, Ryuk , and REvil (Sodinokibi).
Both companies noticed a significant increase in ransomware attacks between June and September.
Healthcare: A key target for ransomware
Check Point researchers found that in the third quarter of 2020, the ransomware gangs that carried out the most attacks were Maze and Ryuk. In fact, Ryuk ransomware targeted an average of 20 companies per week.
The Ryuk gang stepped up its activity in July and focused primarily on healthcare organizations. It should be noted that hospitals and related organizations have been facing many challenges in recent months due to COVID-19. Ransomware gangs target them because they know they are likely to succumb and pay the ransom, since systems cannot remain down for long.
Check Point says ransomware attacks increased by 50% globally in the third quarter of 2020. Ryuk and Maze ransomware were the most prevalent threats. In the US, these attacks nearly doubled. Here is a list of the countries most affected by ransomware attacks during this period:
- USA (98.1% increase)
- India (39.2% increase)
- Sri Lanka (436% increase)
- Russia (57.9% increase)
- Turkey (32.5% increase)
According to IBM, the month with the most attacks was June, accounting for a third of all attacks detected through September.
The company's researchers said that Maze ransomware accounted for 12% of all ransomware attacks they detected during 2020.
However, the most widespread ransomware in 2020 was Sodinokibi (REvil), which was responsible for 29% of the incidents analyzed by researchers.
IBM says the Sodinokibi gang has targeted a large number of victims recently. Most are in the U.S. The company estimates that 36% of victims paid the ransom.
The third most prevalent ransomware, according to IBM, was EKANS (Snake) – responsible for 6% of attacks.
According to Bleeping Computer, ransomware attacks are extremely profitable for cybercriminals. So, this threat is not going away anytime soon. Now that ransomware gangs are stealing data and threatening to leak it, the chances of paying the ransom are even higher.
Companies need to be prepared and maintain offline backups so they can at least restore their data for free.
