Monday, February 13, 2017

2017 Malware Report a Wake Up Call for Every Business with an Internet Connection

Over the last five years, cyber-security has (by necessity) become a growing part of our client practice. The 2017 State of Malware Report (recently issued by Malwarebytes) confirms the trends we see and can be read as a wake up call for every business with an Internet connection.

This data point stood out: Ransomware distribution increased by 267% between January and November 2016, when it accounted for 66% of the malware payload. Their comment: "This is an unprecedented domination of the threat landscape-like nothing we've seen before."

As if that's not bad enough, the United States is #1 among the top 10 countries for ransomware detections, with 81% of those detections hitting companies in North America. (Interestingly, Russia doesn't even make the top ten list.)

Malwarebytes' theory on why the US is the #1 target: "Ransomware cybercriminals concentrated their efforts on businesses, particularly North American enterprises, no doubt realizing that these companies had the most to lose and the resources to pay."  And it pays the crooks well: According to a recent TED talk global cybercrime generated some $450 billion in profits last year.

Beyond ransomware, the report also discusses ad fraud, botnets, changes in distribution methods and 2017 predictions. Here's a link to the report: 2017 State of Malware Report.

Our bottom line is simple: The attacks are getting more sophisticated, more frequent, and more expensive to deal with after the fact. Make sure your company's security hardware, software and processes are as strong as possible before your company's data or systems are compromised.

Want specifics? Contact us and we'll share links to several articles that will point you in the right direction.