Cryptocurrency mining detections increased more than nine-fold in the first half of 2018 compared with the first half of 2017 whereas the number of ransomware families declined 26% in this year’s first half compared with the second half of last year. In addition, ransomware growth slowed considerably, only inching forward by about 3% from the first half of the year compared with the last half of 2017.
Israel Barak, Chief Information Security Officer at Cybereason:
“Ransomware turned into one of the most prevalent, effective and successful forms of cybercrime because it is relatively easy to catch consumers and businesses, essentially trapping them and forcing them to either pay a ransom or lose productivity in the office and valuable personal information. However, if you look at the number of ransomware families and infections over the past three years, attacks have slowed. The innovations, advances in technology and increase in the types of products and tools to combat ransomware is helping to make it less profitable for hackers. Conversely, healthy profit margins and interest in cryptojacking make it likely that hackers will seek more opportunities to profit and organizations should be on the lookout for the signs of this popular form of cybercrime.”
