Security News > 2021 > September > Ransomware detections dropped by almost half, but the threat is only getting worse, says Trend Micro
Trend Micro has released a midyear cybersecurity report that makes two interesting claims: First, that ransomware numbers decreased by almost half in H1 2021 compared to H1 2020; and second, that the number of newly reported vulnerabilities decreased, with a particularly large dip in the number of critical flaws being reported.
The first six months of 2021, Trend Micro said, "Were marked with significant vulnerability exploitation incidents, such as the ProxyLogon attacks," which was the key exploit behind the Microsoft Exchange server attacks.
That decrease, Trend Micro said, is because "Attackers are moving from the opportunistic and quantity-focused model to more targeted modern ransomware methods and big-game hunting."
Premodern ransomware is the type that drops the malicious code directly from an email or bad URL, while modern ransomware uses phishing and other exploits to drop ransomware directly onto a machine or network that has been compromised.
Trend Micro cites WannaCry as premodern and ransomware like DarkSide, REvil and Nefilim as modern variants.
"Cybercriminals continue to raise the stakes for the enterprises and organizations that they target, as they launch attacks from all angles," Trend Micro said.