
(FILES) In this file photo taken on November 3, 2016 An IT researchers stands next to a giant screen a computer infected by a ransomware at the LHS (High Security Laboratory) of the INRIA (National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation) in Rennes. - Hundreds of US municipalities, schools and health organizations have been hit by ransomware in 2019, leading to massive service disruptions, researchers said on October 1, 2019. The security firm Emsisoft said at least 621 government entities, healthcare providers and school districts, colleges and universities were affected by ransomware in the first nine months of 2019.The attacks which lock up computer networks if a ransom is not paid has led to disruption of municipal and medical services and the closing of some schools, the report noted. (Photo by DAMIEN MEYER / AFP)
THE HAGUE: Global ransomware attacks are on the decline, but such cyber strikes are getting bolder and homing in on more profitable companies, with data encryption a key target, Europe’s police agency said Oct 9.
Europol said it was also worried about the rise of so-called “self-generated explicit material” by underaged children who share sexual images and videos with peers through smartphones, making themselves vulnerable to sexual offenders.
Police and the private sector “confirm a diminishing number of ransomware attacks targeting individual citizens” but that they were “becoming more bold”, the agency said as it released its latest annual report on Internet organised crime.
One of the most visible ransomware attacks happened in March last year when SamSam malware paralysed the southeastern US city of Atlanta for several days.
“This only proved to be the tip of the iceberg,” Europol said. “There are cases where a company’s encrypted files have been ransomed for over one million euros,” the agency said.
Company data remained a key target, Europol said, not only for conventional ransomware attacks, but also sabotage.
These attacks which permanently erase or irreversibly damage company data doubled during the first six months of 2019 with half focusing on the manufacturing sector, Europol said.
This included a new strain of malware called GermanWiper “which rather than encrypting the victim’s files, rewrites the content resulting in the permanent destruction of the victim’s data”.
The agency’s Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment report also highlighted online child sexual exploitation as an ongoing major concern – with children themselves contributing to the problem, helped by greater access to smartphones.
“Self-generated explicit material has been a growing concern for several years, as more-and-more young children share explicit material online,” Europol said. – The Star