Biggest Ransomware Attacks In History

Over the last few years, ransomware attacks have shifted from targeting individuals to more lucrative targets like companies, government offices, and corporations.  This has led to massive ransomware outbreaks in the past which have resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of damages, ransom payments, and business stoppages.  Here are some of the biggest ransomware attacks in history.

WannaCry was the most reported ransomware variant in history and for good reasons.  The ransomware spread like wildfire in 2016 which initially affected Europe and reached a total of 116 countries in just four days.  Cybersecurity companies place the number of detections to a quarter of a million during the height of the attack.  The cybercriminals behind WannaCry utilized hacking tools stolen from the NSA and used it to spread the ransomware onto outdated Windows systems. This attack affected healthcare providers, financial institutions, automotive industries, and a wide range of corporations.

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If WannaCry wasn’t enough, it was followed by NotPetya, a ransomware that employed the same exploits used in WannaCry.  This showed that even with the major scare of WannaCry, many corporations and companies were still reluctant to update their systems which could have prevented the disaster.

Lastly, ransomware is no longer limited to just infecting Windows and Linux based systems as proven by SimpleLocker.  This ransomware was the first Android-based ransomware which blocked users from accessing their files.  And unlike previous variants of mobile ransomware, victims of SimpleLocker could only access the files with the scammer’s help.

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