Security News > 2022 > August > Ransomware is not going anywhere: Attacks are up 24%

Avast released a report revealing a significant increase in global ransomware attacks, up 24% from Q1/2022.

After months of decline, global ransomware attacks increased significantly in Q2/2022, up 24% from the previous quarter.

The highest quarter-on-quarter increases in ransomware risk ratio occurred in Argentina, UK, Brazil, France, and India.

"Consumers, but especially businesses should be on guard and prepared for encounters with ransomware, as the threat is not going anywhere anytime soon," explains Jakub Kroustek, Avast Malware Research Director.

"The decline in ransomware attacks we observed in Q4/2021 and Q1/2022 were thanks to law enforcement agencies busting ransomware group members, and caused by the war in Ukraine, which also led to disagreements within the Conti ransomware group, halting their operations. Things dramatically changed in Q2/2022. Conti members have now branched off to create new ransomware groups, like Black Basta and Karakurt, or may join other existing groups, like Hive, BlackCat, or Quantum, causing an uptick in activity."

Another zero-day described in the report is Follina, a remote code execution bug in Microsoft Office, which was widely exploited by attackers ranging from cybercriminals to Russia-linked APT groups operating in Ukraine.

News URL

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/08/12/increase-ransomware-attacks/