BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

2016 Saw An Insane Rise In The Number Of Ransomware Attacks

Following
This article is more than 7 years old.

A few years ago, criminal coders invented a profitable new type of malware: ransomware. Its popularity among malware distributors has grown steadily as the tactic of encrypting files and charging for their decryption proved successful. Just how rapidly ransomware attacks grew in 2016 will positively blow your mind.

According to the latest annual report published by the security team at SonicWall, their Global Response Intelligence Grid saw around 3.8 million ransomware attacks attempted in 2015. That was a modest rise from the 3.2 million tallied in 2014, around 19%.

Last year, ransomware attacks grew at a blistering pace. In total, SonicWall reports 638 million. That's more than 167 times the number of attacks in 2015.

Beyond the staggering volume of the attacks, there's the huge sums of money that individuals and organizations paid to (hopefully) get their files decrypted. Though it's difficult to give a truly accurate total -- not everyone hit by ransomware is keen to talk about such incidents -- SonicWall's report estimates that around $209 million in ransoms were paid in the first quarter of 2016 alone.

Let's get back to that "hopefully" hedge on file decryption. Here's another alarming note from the report: less than half of victims who were attacked were able to fully recover their data. That indicates a couple of things. One is that you can't always rely on ransomware to fully restore your files. The other is that it's critically important to make sure that you have a bulletproof backup plan that's actually backing up your files properly and storing them somewhere safe.

Losing data and paying ransoms is already costly enough for a business, but just how much does a major ransomware incident cost? One business that was willing to disclose their figures to SonicWall said they put the figure at around $2.4 million.

If you're not taking a proactive approach to ransomware already, now is the time to start. 2017 could be a banner year for attacks, especially given the arrival of the incredibly slick Spora ransomware-as-a-service. It's now easier than ever for malicious types to launch an attack. All they have to do is sign up, create their payload, and agree to hand over a 30% commission of all ransoms paid.