On the 9th Day of Christmas: 2018 Prediction

Ransomware Attacks

We have seen an increase in ransomware attacks in 2017 and we don’t really see this letting up in 2018. WannaCry effected the so many organisations across the world. The ransomware saw 230,000 computers infected within a day when the attackers launched it in May 2017.

With distribution tools readily available online for free, it is going to be so easy for criminals to launch their own ransomware attacks. Therefore, we do not see this problem going away anytime soon. We expect to also see an extension of ransomware attacks to new software. So most of the focus has been on Windows software and users. However, there has already been an increase in the number of Android devices infected and we expect this will increase on top of other softwares too.

CounterHack also expect to see a change in motive with these type of attacks. In June, with the launch of NotPetya we already saw a shift in motive. Although the attackers demanded $300 in BitCoin, it seems this wasn’t their main motivate when launching the destructive ransomware. Instead, it was to be just that, completely destructive and trash filesystems of many organisations.

December 18, 2017/by Katie

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