Ransomware Evolves to Affect Severity; BI Remains ‘Complicated’

CHICAGO—There is “no honor amongst thieves” when it comes to ransomware.

During a panel on claims developments here at Advisen’s Cyber Risk Insights Conference, CNA Insurance cyber industry leader Brian Robb said ransomware attacks have evolved. At the start of the ransomware trend, organizations that paid up would receive encryption keys to get data back.

Now, said Robb, there have been situations in which the thieves only returned a partial encryption key following payment, and then asked for more cryptocurrency.

Chad Hemenway, Ransomware evolves to affect severity; BI remains ‘complicated’ (May 24, 2018).

This story in an excerpt of the original. The content originally appeared in Advisen Cyber Front Page News.

Ransomware Attacks Jump 50 Percent, but Accidental Breaches a ‘Major Problem’

Ransomware attacks rose during the first half of 2017, accounting for 32 percent of attacks and up 50 percent over the first half of 2016, but employee error and third-party risks were close behind at 30 percent, according to a recent Beazley Breach Response report.

During the first half of 2017, Beazley’s team handled 1,330 attacks for which hacking and malware events represented the dominant cause. However, the firm cited accidental breaches by employees and vendors as a “major problem.” In the hardest-hit sector, healthcare, accidental breaches accounted for 42 percent of events, well ahead of all other causes of loss.

Read more at https://www.advisenltd.com/2017/08/03/ransomware-attacks-jump-50-percent-accidental-breaches-major-problem/

Erin Ayers, Ransomware attacks jump 50 percent, but accidental breaches a ‘major problem’ (August 3, 2017), available with subscription at Advisen Cyber Front Page News.

Ransomware: A Nightmare for Businesses

Ransomware is one of the biggest cyber threats faced by businesses of all sizes. After witnessing serious attacks in 2015, experts expect the number, intensity, and financial impact of ransomware attacks to increase significantly in 2016.

What is ransomware? What damage can it cause businesses? What is the average payment demanded by cyber criminals?

Read more and download the infographic at http://www.advisenltd.com/2016/09/13/ransomware-a-nightmare-for-business/

Hiscox Ltd.”Ransomware: A Nightmare for Businesses [Infographic]”. Advisen Ltd. | Hiscox Ltd. September 2016. Web. 14 September 2016.

Ransomware Rises to ‘Epidemic’ Levels: Kaspersky Report

The number of computer users affected by all types of ransomware in the past year grew 17.7 percent over the previous year, up to 2,315,931 users, according to a recent report from Kaspersky Labs, which stated that ransomware has now reached “epidemic” proportions.

“The biggest problem with crypto-ransomware today is that sometimes the only way to get the encrypted data back is to pay the criminals, and victims tend to pay. That brings a lot of money into the underground ecosystem that has grown up around this malware, and as a result we are seeing new cryptors appear almost daily,” said Fedor Sinitsyn, senior malware analyst at Kaspersky Lab.

Erin Ayers, Ransomware rises to ‘epidemic’ levels: Kaspersky report (June 28, 2016), available with subscription at Advisen Cyber Front Page News.

Cook on Ransomware: ‘A Purse Snatching on an Airplane’

William Cook, partner at Reed Smith, said he generally advises companies not to pay ransom to get back access to computer systems—unless the hacker demands a BMW.

Keynote speaker Cook, former president of FBI computer crime unit program InfraGard, told several stories to illustrate the vast universe of cyber risk at Advisen’s Cyber Risk Insights Conference here on May 11.

One such story was of a client that was hacked with ransomware that encrypted all the company’s files. The hacker demanded a ransom: $100,000 and a BMW. Cook told the company to pay the hacker.

Chad Hemenway, Cook on ransomware: ‘A purse snatching on an airplane’ (May 23, 2016), available with subscription at Advisen Professional Front Page News.