Despite a small decline in the total volume of ransomware attacks, assailants are increasingly leveraging the attack method as a targeted way to extort enterprises. This shift toward more selective targets is a typical trend within the Cyber Security industry. For example, at one point, mass phishing emails were all the rage. Attackers would send generic messages to hundreds or thousands of users, hoping that one naïve person would click on a link and help the attacker further their agenda.

“We have your precious data! Pay us or lose it forever!” This is a message no organization or individual ever wants to see. Nevertheless, given trends over time in cyber security, ransomware remains a concern for many organizations. Here is a look at interesting examples of successful ransomware attacks and some lessons we can learn from each.

Since the first documented ransomware attack occurred in the late 80s, the attack method has increasingly become a threat to organizations and individual consumers. One cybercriminal may lock up a family’s computer and hold their precious photo memories hostage with the threat of deleting them. Another may cripple a business by locking up their primary revenue generating application database, costing the company millions of dollars in lost sales by the minute.

Impostor email attacks are a growing trend and problem. Attackers will target your employees, customers, and business partners with these advanced attacks. It is now widely known that Cybercriminals aim to exploit users within organizations rather than the technology. Their sole purpose, to steal money and information which could prove financially valuable.

At RSA 2019, we conducted a survey that netted 733 respondents along with interviews between Javvad Malik, former security advocate at AT&T Cybersecurity, and security experts. The full results are in his comprehensive and informative research report. Following are a few highlights.

You would be hard-pressed these days to remain ignorant of the growth of ransomware incidents experienced by organizations large and small. We’ve seen a ton of press around these events, from CryptoLocker to WannaCry. The impact of this type of malware is newsworthy.

It’s estimated that Ransomware costs will climb to roughly $11.5 billion in 2019, according to CSO Online. The frequency of attacks continues to increase as well. According to a report on Ransomware, these attacks occurred once every 120 seconds in early 2016. By 2017 this spiked to an attack occurring every 40 seconds. In 2019, the frequency is expected to grow to an attack happening every 14 seconds.

Given you’re here, you’re likely new to this topic, so please be aware in that fileless malware, fileless malware attack, and fileless attack are different words for the same thing. With that clear, let’s jump in!

In the last few years, organizations have been subject to extortion through ransomware. Now, hackers are bypassing the nasty business of trying to get people to give them cryptocurrency to simply hijacking your processor to mine for cryptocurrency. As a result, the methods employed are growing in sophistication and creativity, including using internet memes to compromise systems.