An unparalleled hike in ransomware attacks globally has been detected over late 2019 and first half of 2020, leading to financial damage of over $1 billion with the majority of attacks targeting US users and organizations, Group-IB, a Singapore-based cybersecurity firm, said in a report on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th November, 2020) An unparalleled hike in ransomware attacks globally has been detected over late 2019 and first half of 2020, leading to financial damage of over $1 billion with the majority of attacks targeting US users and organizations, Group-IB, a Singapore-based cybersecurity firm, said in a report on Wednesday.
"Late 2019 and the entire 2020 were marked by an unprecedented surge in ransomware attacks. Neither private sector companies nor government agencies turned out to be immune to ransomware plague: over the reporting period, over 500 successful ransomware attacks in more than 45 countries all over the globe were reported. According to Group-IB conservative estimates, the total financial damage from ransomware operations amounted to over $1 bln," the company said in a report on hi-tech crime trends.
The United States has been hit with 60 percent of total amount of known incidents, while the European Union followed, the cybersecurity firm noted.
At the same time, a major surge of 118 percent in number of phishing web resources has been detected by Group-IB over the period of late 2019 and first half of 2020.
"Analysts mention the global pandemic and subsequent lockdown are to be the reasons: web-phishing, which one of the simplest ways to earn money in the cybercriminal industry, attracted those who lost their incomes. The increased demand for online purchases created favorable environment for phishers," the report read.
In October, the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security said that the COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on the European Union's cybersecurity landscape over the past months due to government-imposed restrictive measures, such as quarantines, which have forced millions of people to work from home, shop online and engage in other internet activities that sparked a surge in cybercrimes.
