FEATURE


cybersecurityeurope PAGE 38


Reports of


the demise of


RANSO GAME


ransomware have been exaggerated: businesses have to redouble their defences as new variants become ever more devious.


exaggerated: businesses have to redouble their defences as new variants become ever more devious.


DESPITE SIGNS THAT RANSOMWARE IS BEING DISPLACED BY MALWARE like ‘cryptojacking’ (malicious use of computer processing power to mine cryptocurrency) as cyber criminals’ preferred dark cashcow, ransomware remains a serious persistent threat to organisations of all kinds. SonicWall’s 2019 Cyber Threat Report records 206.5m ransomware attacks in 2018 – that’s a rise of 11% on 2017. High-profi le attacks on the Tribune Publishing (US), City of Albany (US),


Arizona Beverages (US), the Police Federation (UK), and Norsk Hydro (Norway) in the fi rst quarter of 2019, show that it still imposes a signifi cant sting, and that its proponents think that the bigger the target, the higher the possible ransom for extortion. What’s more, because ransomware raises multiple ethical questions in terms of an organisation’s governance policies, cyber-savvy CEOs and their c-suite colleagues must stay apprised of the dilemmas it stirs up.


For business owners it’s also important to be mindful of how factors like staff churn have on an organisation’s cyber security stance.


HELP GANDCRAB DECRYPTOR AVAILABLE


A new decryption tool has been released for free on the No More Ransom depository for the latest strand of GandCrab, one of the world’s most prolifi c ransomware to date. GandCrab has surpassed


all other strains of ransomware in 2018, according to Europol, having infected more than 500,000 victims since fi rst detected in January 2018.


Reports of the demise of ransomware have been


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