Ransomware Operations Hitting Record Highs in 2021

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Ransomware, this year, has seen a massive uptick with global attack volume going up 151 percent for the first six months of 2021. The FBI has warned of 100 different strains of ransomware in circulation around the world. SonicWall’s Capture Lab telemetry shows 304.7 million attempted ransomware attacks. For reference, the same group found 304.6 million ransomware attacks during the entirety of 2020. According to SonicWall, the top ransomware strains have been Ryuk, Cerber and SamSam.  



Ransomware isn’t just an American problem, either. The growth in ransomware attacks has increased globally. Europe observed a 234 percent spike in attacks in their first half, according to SonicWall. North America saw a slightly smaller 180 percent jump. Asia has seen a 59 percent jump and, since March, have noticed a decrease in ransomware attacks. 

With regard to industry, the most commonly targeted in 2021 has been government. By June, government clients saw 10x more ransomware attempts than average. 

“Government customers are still seeing a higher-than-average number of ransomware attempts, but in three out of six months during the first half of 2021, education customers saw even more,” noted the report. 

https://www.sonicwall.com/2021-cyber-threat-report/?elqCampaignId=14431&sfc=7013h000000Mm0SAAS



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