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Primary forms of ransomware of concern to business identified

Cyber extortion is very real and smaller businesses with fewer security measures can be easy and profitable targets.

Image: © AFP
Image: © AFP

A review of UK based Internet search habits has revealed the most common types of ransomware that are being screened for, together with an idea of the defensive strategies that users are looking to implement. This comes from a review conducted by Firewall Technical.

The main forms of ransomware of concern are led by continuing concerns the Wannacry ransomware attack. This global threat remains the most searched for ransomware worldwide. Wannacry was released in 2017 and is known to affect Windows PCs. In the UK it is the ransomware which famously attacked the NHS. While being released in 2017, it is clear that Wannacry is still infecting computers in 2022.

This is followed by Ryuk ransomware, a malicious code released by hacker group WIZARD SPIDER once again targeted healthcare services in both the UK and USA was the second most searched for ransomware and had the largest number of searches for people looking for information on what Ryuk is.

Ryuk is considered one of the most dangerous ransomware attacks by cyber security professionals and is accountable for some of the highest ransom demands around the world.

Petya ransomware is a family of ransomware attacks that was released in 2016. In 2022 it is the third most searched ransomware attack. Petya ransomware became well known in 2017 when a variant of the Petya family infected the National Bank of Ukraine before moving on to other targets in Europe. It’s estimated that the 2017 attacks caused over $10 billion in damages.

Cryptolocker, Locky, Cerber, Jigsaw, Bad rabbit and GandCrab ransomware represent other forms of malicious software that users of online systems are concerned about.  

Most primary ransomware attack vectors of concern are:

  • Wannacry
  • Ryuk
  • Petya
  • Cryptolocker
  • Locky
  • Cerber
  • Jigsaw
  • Bad rabbit
  • GandCrab
  • CryptoWall

Type of ransomware attacks that are less commonly searched for include: Crysis, Reveton and GoldenEye.

Antivirus software Kaspersky and Bitdefender were the antivirus software getting the highest number of searches in the UK.

A spokesperson from Firewall Technical tells Digital Journal: “Cyber extortion is very real and smaller businesses with fewer security measures can be easy and profitable targets for cybercriminals. Looking at the data in this study it’s clear to see that ransomware isn’t going away anytime soon.”

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Written By

Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news. Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, business, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.

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