Ransomware’s Not Dead
While Ransomware was one of the online security landscape’s biggest problems in 2017, experts are noticing it’s sharp decline in recent months.
Security researchers have seen a number of ransomware variants stop their operations, while newer ones aren’t as effective as past successful ransomware campaigns like NotPetya or WannaCry.
This might seem like good news to us consumers, but experts also believe cybercriminals are still actively retooling their malware and also thinking of the “next best thing.”
As ransomware variants are said to be updating their distribution and infection schemes, two of the more popular ones in Locky and Cerber seem to have disappeared into thin air.
Reports of ransomware attacks have been on a downward trend, especially on the consumer side of things, but the business sector should be on the lookout as cybercriminals seem to be focusing more on them.
Although this might be goods news for consumers, staying protected against ransomware or other malware is still advisable since they can easily come back into the picture.
Ransomware’s current decline could be because of a shift in cybercriminals’ focus
A newer type of ransomware emerged recently, as GandCrab gained traction while demanding Dash cryptocurrency as ransom.
Cybercriminals also look to be testing out newer tactics to still be able to benefit from distributing ransomware.
Another type of ransomware, called SamSam, was successful in targetting a hospital in Indiana and government agencies in Atlanta.
Experts believe that ransomware attacks could most definitely be shifting to the corporate arena, but won’t necessarily be as effective as past iterations.
The next few months should be more of the same, with the surviving ransomware types evolving and attempting to make a splash.
As ransomware seemed to have reached its peak in previous years, it is worth noting that its decline could also be an effect of the profitability of cryptocurrency mining in recent times – with cybercriminals focusing more on this type of scheme.
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