Ransomware is in a continual spiral upwards, and it could soon become extremely tricky to combated because the criminal ecosystem turns from the small bunch of leading parties to numerous less known.
Ransomware is Growing Rapidly
Renown tech security company Bitdefender assayed Windows security dangers such as ransomware, coin miners, exploits, banking Trojans, and more.
Bitdefender discovered that ransomware reports showed the biggest annual increase at a stunning 74.2 percent. This particular threat also classified first when it came to the total number of reports. As per the tech security company, the number of ransomware reports, in fact, saw a decline during the first part of 2019, mostly due to the group behind GrandCrab ransomware blocked off their plan.
However, since then, ransomware reports increased again as new ransomware has appeared in GrandCrab’s place. In the meantime, even though new ransomware like Sodinokibi (REvil or Sodin) have not taken the place held by GrandCrab, they are reportedly growing.
“The fall of GandCrab, which dominated the ransomware market with a share of over 50 percent, has left a power vacuum that various spinoffs are quickly filling. This fragmentation can only mean the ransomware market will become more powerful and more resilient against combined efforts by law enforcement and the cybersecurity industry to dismantle it,” the report noted.
Windows is the Most Threatened OS
Bitdefender explained that reports of coin miners and fileless malware saw a slight decline in the last period. This particular focus on Windows shows that malware writers aren’t that interested in Macs. With Windows as the main lucrative front line, there is not so much urge for malware creators to spend time and means to design ‘mass-market Mac-centric threats,’ the report said.
The malware creators tend to focus more on developed and comprehensive threats specifically designed for C-level executives and such.
However, before Apple users get too comfortable, it is important to know that Macs aren’t immune to such dangers. Ransomware may spare macOS for now, but the operating system has been aimed at by cryptojacking activities, attacks utilizing known glitches, and more other operations of this kind.
