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The cybercriminals behind WannaCry utilized hacking tools stolen from the NSA and used it to spread the ransomware onto outdated Windows systems.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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The Growing Importance Of Data Security

As technology continues to play an increased role in our lives, evidenced by the rise of the internet, heightened engagement on social media, and innovations like IoT, the more we’ve to be conscious of safeguarding our data.

Data security is a huge concern in this modern, oft-online world, as instances of hacking, breaches, and cybercrime in general continue to riddle the news. The information age has affected our society in unprecedented levels, seeping into everyday essentials, from banking and vehicles to our medical needs and bills payments.

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Not to mention most companies now have significant online operations. We should be especially keen to the necessary precautions to secure our data and protect our privacy. The storage needed for voluminous modern personal and work-related data keeps growing, driving many to use online technologies like Cloud. But even this is not safe; studies show that cybercrime on the Cloud platform will triple by 2020, from the figures in 2015.

We must embrace better protocols for encryption and password choices, as well as continue backing-up our data on physical devices like portable hard drives and SSDs. Huge businesses, on the other hand, must enforce improved cyber security strategies. For example, they can conduct regular phishing assessments among employees to track potential email-based scams.

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Encryption’s role in thwarting data breaches

Data breaches are caused by a plethora of threats conjured by cybercriminals. Their activities have far-reaching consequences for both businesses and their customers, with the biggest and most publicized breaches affecting hundreds of millions of people across the globe. 

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A breach can cripple your company’s business and sink a hard-earned reputation for security and trustworthiness. In the face of a growing tide of security breaches in modern computer systems, companies need to evaluate the potential vulnerabilities. 

One of the most common vulnerabilities is unencrypted data. The majority of data stolen in most enterprise breaches was unencrypted despite its significance. In previous years, this was understandable; secure encryption requires a lot of computing to accomplish, making widescale encryption immensely difficult. 

Thus, adequate encryption is the keystone in the fight for data security. Although far from the only component in a cybersecurity strategy, encryption often serves as a last line of defense in the event of a security breach. The complexities tied with its processes of verification and access give encryption multiple advantages to password protection (which is often the first line of defense to be compromised). If cybercriminals successfully access the data during a breach, encryption ensures that they cannot view it. 

Even in a worst-case scenario, encryption can prevent a significantly large portion of proprietary data from being compromised. An effective encryption tool can help companies effectively encrypt sensitive data on a large scale. 

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What is encryption and why is it important?

Encryption is the process of altering information in such a way that makes it unreadable by anyone except those possessing special knowledge, allowing them to change the information back to original and unreadable form. Here’s why encryption is important in securing and protecting data from intruders. 

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The foremost function of encryption is protecting data from entities that shouldn’t have access to it. Businesses, for instance, use it for protecting corporate secrets, while governments harness it for securing classified information. On the individual level, encryption protects personal details from threats such as identity theft. 

Today, because vast amounts of personal information are managed online and stored in servers or the cloud with an ongoing web connection, it’s almost impossible to do business without personal data ending up in a networked computer system. This is why it’s crucial that the data is kept private.

Encryption is important because Internet privacy risks are real, and it turns personal information into “for your eyes only” messages intended for the parties that need them. Most email clients, for instance, are accompanied by the option of encryption in the settings menu. 

Hacking is also big business, sometimes planned by multinational entities on a large scale. A number of government and private regulations demand security measures as well, such as healthcare providers being required by law to implement security features protecting patients’ sensitive health information. Encryption assists businesses in staying safe, secure, and compliant when it comes to valuable customer data. 

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The most common types of web-application injection attacks

An injection attack is the one of the most preferred methods by cybercriminals because there are numerous ways to do it. It can be used in small- and large-scale breaches, and it is complex to defend against. An injection attack is named so because it is conducted by injecting data into a web application, which hackers use to steal or manipulate information. 

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The following are the most common injection attacks: 

SQL Injection 

SQL, which means structured query language, is a programming language needed to manage data and communicate with databases. An SQL injection introduces malicious codes into a database, which gives hackers access to stored information, such as private company and customer records. There are SQL injection attacks that can grant perpetrators administration rights, letting them gain control of the web application. 

Code Injection 

Also called remote file inclusion, cyber-attackers use code injection to target weaknesses in web applications caused by the processing of invalid data. This allows hackers to upload malware in the system, giving them access to data or allowing them to take over the system. 

Log File Injection 

Web applications use a range of log files to record events and transactions that owners can use to compile statistics. It can also be used for debugging, if needed. However, there can be vulnerabilities in these log files that hackers could exploit by injecting malicious content in them. 

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Know Thy Enemy: Online Threats

For casual tech users, cybercrimes don’t seem that big of a deal. But for those who know what’s really going on, the worst-case scenario is cybercrimes can bring down entire countries.

The worst cybercrimes have affected millions of computers across the globe and have cost people billions of dollars. Some have even disrupted sensitive processes in hospitals and other key institutions, inadvertently leading to loss of life. Cyber criminals are capable of attacking almost any business, institution, or person. And for those not well-versed in cybercrime methods, installing an anti-virus program is enough. But it almost never is.

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Hackers and other cyber criminals have found workarounds to anti-malware and anti-virus programs. Their methods have evolved to the point that they can now steal insane amounts of money from millions of people and businesses without being noticed until it’s too late.

It’s a good thing though that cybersecurity has evolved as well, and that a number of the worst cybercriminals in history have come over to the “good guys.” Today, methods have been developed to counter cybercrime, one of the most important of which is the identification of the enemy. When people know who and what they’re up against, it’s easier to prepare a good defense. Today, firewalls, VPNs, and other programs are being created with the ability to tailor defenses to the attackers and their weapons.

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Still, the best way to protect yourself against cybercriminal attacks is to stay vigilant at all times.

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An Entrepreneur’s Guide To Data Encryption

The internet has become a massive revolution, and almost every transaction is being conducted online. It’s no question that big-scale businesses have invested so much in cybersecurity with the threat of hackers getting into systems that contain highly classified information. However, startups are not exempted from this threat by cyber-criminals.

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Private Wi-Fi

Small businesses should at least have their own private Wi-Fi connection to conduct transactions, which puts their data at high risk of being stolen by hackers. When a Wi-Fi network is protected by a password, the password used protects the websites visited from being tracked by other people. Without a password, all websites and transactions hackers have access to anything that's been typed into unencrypted web forms.

If it’s still not possible to have a private Wi-Fi network, the next best thing to have one’s devices protected by using a VPN to route the traffic through an encrypted server. Take note that using VPN isn’t a guaranteed solution, yet it does lower a business’ risk of getting hacked.

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Encrypted websites

While the website says it’s encrypted, if the network isn’t private, for hackers can still access anything that’s being logged onto the website. Cyber-criminals use fake HTTPS links to create a man-in-the-middle attack that intercepts what’s perceived to be a secure browsing option.

Beware of a keystroke logger as this can read anything that’s being typed into a computer and will be transmitted to the hacker even if the network is private and secure.

It’s best to invest in cybersecurity regardless of the size of the businesses as all transactions can be hacked if remain unprotected.

Secure Channels solves challenges in access control, adaptable encryption, data protection, enterprise confidentiality solutions, and proximity-based monitoring capabilities to help clients’ ever-changing needs. To learn more about its services, visit this page.