COVER FEATURE
DIGITAL EXTORTION Ransomware is going after organisations and individuals alike. These attacks could be about to get a lot more serious.
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ansomware is a familiar plague in the online world – it has existed for more than 25 years and become increasingly common during the past decade. But, until recently, it has been aimed more at organisations or individual computers than devices. And that is changing. With the explosive growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) – estimates of how many connected devices will be in use by 2020 range all the way up to 200 billion – experts say it is about to get much more common at the consumer level. An attack surface that broad and that vulnerable is irresistible to cybercriminals. While other types of cyberattacks typically take more work to monetise, the skyrocketing growth is due to the fact that ransomware is getting easier and 6
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easier to send and that it offers a quick and easy return on investment. Scott Manson, Cyber Security Leader, Cisco Middle East, explains the reason behind the spike in the number of ransomware: “The rise of ransomware over the past year is an ever growing problem. Business often believe that paying the ransom is the most cost effective way of getting their data back – and this may also be the reality. The problem we face is that every single business that pays to recover their files, is directly funding the development of the next generation of ransomware. As a result of this we’re seeing ransomware evolve at an alarming rate.” Hussam Sidani, Regional Manager for Gulf, Symantec, agrees that ransomware has quickly emerged as one of the most dangerous cyber-threats facing both organisations and consumers,
with global losses now likely running to hundreds of millions of dollars. In the Middle East and Africa, UAE has become a lucrative target for cybercriminals. According to Symantec’s 2016 Internet Security Threat Report (ISTR), the country was the 4th most impacted country in the Middle East and Africa region with ransomware. The report also stated that ransomware attacks grew by 44 percent year-on-year in the UAE. “Ransomware attacks are becoming diverse and sophisticated in nature. Additionally, given the strong uptake of smartphones and tablets, we’re seeing more mobile devices coming under attack, with attackers encrypting files, and anything else an owner will pay to recover,” says Sidani. What are the new variants of ransomware you can expect to surface this year? “It is near impossible to www.securityadvisorme.com