Report: 47% of hacker attacks in 2021 targeted ransomware programs

In 2021 ransomware operators concentrated on attacks against large organisations and raised the average ransom demand, according to specialists at Kaspersky Lab, as ForkLog reported.

In the first three quarters of 2021, the company’s experts identified 32 new ransomware families and nearly 11,000 new variants of this type of malware. The number of ransomware attacks on corporate computers in Russia over the 11 months of that year reached almost 14,500.

From January to November 2021, the share of requests related to ransomware attacks handled by Kaspersky Lab specialists stood at 47%. In 2020 it was considerably lower—38%.

Almost half of these attacks targeted government and industrial-sector entities. IT companies and financial institutions were also affected by the extortionists’ activities.

Hackers are increasingly using Linux builds to broaden the attack surface. They have also begun to focus on financial extortion, threatening to publish stolen data. Experts say these trends will persist into 2022.

“Because law enforcement is actively pursuing them, the lifecycles of such gangs are shortening, and as a result they will refine their tactics next year to continue to profit from the attacks, especially if governments ban paying ransoms,” said Kaspersky Lab.

To counter the hackers, experts advise users not to connect to remote desktop services from public networks, to keep software up to date on all devices in use, to back up data regularly, and to deploy enterprise protective solutions.

In November, Avast researchers forecast a rise in ransomware attacks on the cryptocurrency market in 2022.

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