“The number of ransomware variants has escalated so far this year, Trend Micro’s latest security report finds, but little data exists on how many victims have been hit.
In the first half of 2016, attackers focused a great deal more on ransomware than in previous years, according to security firm Trend Micro’s 2016 1H Security Roundup report.The number of ransomware variants shot up to 79 in the first half of the year, versus 29 in all of 2015. Comparing the same time periods results in a stunning 445 percent year-over-year increase in ransomware variants, or “families,” as Trend Micro terms them in the report.
In addition, exploit kit authors also have moved to support ransomware, either as a download or in a scheme known as ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS), Christopher Budd, global threat communications manager for Trend Micro, told eWEEK.”
All of the major exploit kits jumped on the ransomware bandwagon in 2016,” he said. “The fact that we are seeing movement in the ransomware space, it is a big indicator that this is a big new thing.””
Author: Robert Lemos