How Ransomware Victimizes Millions
13.1 million Americans have been targeted by ransomware, and of all nationalities they pay extortionists the most—50% of U.S. victims paid their cyber-attackers.
Less than half of users can accurately identify ransomware as a type of malware that prevents or limits access to data, but two-thirds know that it can harm computers.
The United States has most ransomware victims—4.1% of the population or 13.1 million. The breakout for other nations is as follows: Germany: 3.8%, or 3.1 million, Romania: 3.4%, or 350,000 France: 3.3%, or 2.2 million United Kingdom 2.6%, or 1.7 million Denmark: 2%, or 100,000
Americans make cyber-extortion worthwhile; 50% of ransomware victims have paid extortionists. 48% of Romania and 44% of United Kingdom’s victims have paid ransom. Germans and Danes seem to be more skeptical; 33 and 14%, respectively, pay requested fees.
Of all personal documents, Americans value photos most. 30% would pay to recover personal documents and 25% would pay for photos, whereas only 18% would pay to recover job-related documents.
Brits are willing to pay 400 pounds to decrypt their files. The French would be willing to dispense €188 to recover their data, while Germans would part with €211.
61.8% of all malware files distributed via email target U.S. Internet users and contain some form of ransomware. France, the United Kingdom, Romania, Denmark and Germany follow with 56%, 55%, 50%, 42% and 31%, respectively.
Emails are the most common delivery method for ransomware infections. 21% of all ransomware-infected emails target the United States. United Kingdom and France come in second and third, with 9% and 4%.
It doesn’t steal victims’ information. It encrypts it. It doesn’t try to hide after files are encrypted because detection will not restore lost data. It usually demands ransom in a virtual currency. It’s relatively easy to produce; there are several well-documented crypto libraries.
Two main types of ransomware circulate today: Device lockers – lock the device screen and display image that blocks access to the device. The message demands payment, but personal files are not encrypted. Crypto-ransomware – boast reversible encryption of personal files and folders, like documents, spreadsheets, pictures and videos.
Ransomware proliferates through the following main attack vectors:
Spam/social engineering, Direct drive-by-download, Drive-by-download through malvertising, Malware installation tools and botnets