On May 12, 2017, the largest ransomware epidemic in history, WannaCry, reached its peak. Three years later, this and other ransomware threats are still affecting people and companies. Recent Kaspersky research has revealed that in 2019, WannaCry kept its position at the top of the most prevalent ransomware families, while almost a third (30%) of those targeted by ransomware were corporate users. On May 12, 2020, Kaspersky and INTERPOL urge organizations to think about backing up their data and adopting relevant protection so that they could avoid any potential ransomware siege and a catastrophe similar to WannaCry doesn't happen again.
Ransomware has become a big challenge for many organizations. Even though this is not the most advanced threat from a technical point of view, it allows criminal actors to block business operations and extort money. As a result of a ransomware incident, organizations lost on average $1.46 million in 2019; which included costs for downtime, fines and reputational damage. The WannaCry attack became the most noticeable of its kind, spreading with the help of an advanced cyber-weapon, EternalBlue, which is a complex and effective exploit used to target the unpatched vulnerability in Windows. As a result, WannaCry caused a real worldwide cyber-epidemic.
However there is little reason to give up, as protection from ransomware is possible through feasible security measures. Today, on May 12, Kaspersky, together with INTERPOL, encourages organizations to follow these security practices and make sure they have reliable protection against ransomware, especially since recent statistics confirm that the threat is still relevant.
According to Kaspersky's research, a total of 767,907 users were attacked by encryptors in 2019 – with almost a third of them (30%) being in businesses. Of all the encryption families, WannaCry still was the most common – in 2019, it attacked 164,433 users and accounted for 21% of all detected attacks. With a significant margin, it was followed by other families such as GandCrab (11%) and Stop (4%). The first one is a well-known ransomware-as-a-service, developed by a team of criminals and rented to the broader community and has been distributed for years. The Stop ransomware campaign is also a well-known threat spread through compromised software and websites, as well as adware.
"The WannaCry epidemic, which saw companies lose millions because of downtime or costs related to reputational damage, demonstrated what can happen if ransomware happens on such a large scale. The threat remains relevant today, as there will be users out there who still may not know much about it and can become a victim. The good news is that the right security approach and relevant measures can make ransomware yet another non-critical threat. And we would like Anti-Ransomware Day on May 12 to become the day when businesses and users globally no longer face challenges with ransomware," comments Sergey Martsynkyan, Head of B2B Product Marketing, Kaspersky.
To help businesses stay protected from ransomware, experts suggest that organizations should take the following anti-ransomware measures as soon as possible:
More findings on the ransomware threat found by Kaspersky's experts are available on Securelist.com
To know more about WannaCry, check a gripping, Kaspersky-produced documentary that looks back at how WannaCry unfolded and how it suddenly stopped. It combines expert opinions with exclusive interviews of Marcus Hutchins, the man who found a kill switch in the malware's source code.
