Ransomware is confirmed as a pervasive threat and whaling emerges as a strong trend, according to the latest security report by Trend Micro
The occurrence of
ransomware families nearly doubled, up by 172%, in the first half of 2016 compared with the whole of 2015, the
latest report from security firm
Trend Micro shows.
Whaling attacks, also known as
business email compromise (BEC) and CEO fraud, also emerged as a major trend, accounting for $3bn in losses in the US alone in the first six months of 2016.
Trend Micro identified a total of 79 new ransomware families in the first six months of this year, with 58% of ransomware attacks in the first half originating from attachments in spammed emails.
Ransomware is now a prevalent and pervasive threat, with variants designed to attack all levels of the network, the report said.
The uptick in malware is in line with Trend Micro’s predictions that
online extortion will increase in 2016 as cyber criminals devise new ways to personalise attacks.
