New Ransomware Attacks Reported in Russia and Ukraine

Ransomware on the rise again!

If you were to ask someone this time last year ‘what is ransomware’ the likelihood is that they wouldn’t know. In truth, I didn’t become entirely aware of it myself until a friends PC got affected. It was, however, at this point that I realized just how potent a threat it posed.

Before Ransomware hit the headlines, I did write an article explaining how it works in more details. In it as well, specifically, how to attempt to avoid it. It proved to be somewhat prophetic as less than a month later the world was shocked by a mass of ransomware attacks. The most high-profile of these were on the NHS which was found to be disturbingly vulnerable.

Attacks or at least reports of them had quieted down in the last 2-3 months. There are definitely attacks still happening. We reported only earlier this month how Toshiba had lost 400,000tb of data due to a ransomware attack.

Most attacks within the last 6 months have been based on the now famous ‘wannacry’ virus. Unfortunately, it would appear that new brand of ransomware has now been unleashed.

‘Bad Rabbit’ – A new breed of virus!

In a report via the BBC, a new strain of ransomware virus has hit the internet. Reports suggest that this new virus has already claimed a number of high-profile scalps in Russia and the Ukraine. This includes; 3 major websites, a subway station and even (disturbingly) a Ukrainian airport.

Concerns are growing that, particularly with the nature of the internet, it is only a matter of time before this new virus hits Europe and America.

What doesn’t help us on the low level of these attacks is when companies pay $1,000,000 sums to retrieve their data. Combined with the growth of the untraceable Bitcoin currency, it might be time to be on alert again.

What do you think? Is ransomware here to stay? How do you protect yourself from it? – Let us know in the comments!