Verizon has been known for its annual Data Breach Investigations Report which helps those within the IT industry as well as customers to understand the latest developments in the field. This year, one of the most alarming stats to come out of that report was the fact that ransomware has now become the most common method of infiltration by hackers.
According to the report, almost 40% of all malicious softwares designed to steal information, encrypt a user’s data and then extort money in exchange for restoring their access to information are now ransomware.
One of the primary reasons sighted in the report that have played a huge part in its popularity is how it’s virtually impossible to remove ransomware through even a ransomware removal tool. It requires a through re-installation of the operating system, but even that can become tiresome after a while.
However re-installing the operating system is still the most effective and successful way to remove ransomware. For all the cumbersome details associated with re-installing the operating system, it is still the best way to ensure that you don’t end up being locked out forever from your precious data.
There was additional data about BitDefender and the ransomware removal tool that had been developed by it. Much was made of the software’s incapability to remove ransomware and how fruitless it proved when the city district of Atlanta was under attack by ransomware earlier this year.
The report also mentions the methods of payment that ransomware developers prefer. 2017 also saw an increase in popularity for cryptocurrency. This made it possible for the ransomware hackers to ask for ransom payments in a method that is untraceable.
This led to the entire ransomware enigma becoming even more dangerous. Before, it used to be possible for law enforcement agencies to track down the culprits using transaction histories. But since cryptocurrency relies on erasing any traces of such transactions, there was nothing the law enforcement agencies could do.
It is believed that in addition to national security threat-level ransomware like WannaCry and NotPetya, there are several other amateur ransomware on the market which intend to simply swindle domestic users.
