Over 224,000 Ransomware Attacks Occurred In Australia Over A Two-Month Period

Australia is a major target for ransomware. Over April and May, more than 224,000 ransomware attacks hit the country, according to security vendor Trend Micro. Most of them were from one specific exploit kit that mainly targeted organisations and small businesses. Here’s what you need to know.

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Out of the 224,000 ransomware attacks detected in April and May, over 213,000 were a result of the Angler exploit kit. One of the reasons why Angler is such a popular exploit kit is because it requires little technical expertise.

From the Trend Micro data, 64 per cent of ransomware threats were from email attacks, usually distributed as a macro or JavaScript attachment or a clickable link that leads to a downloadable file.

According to Trend Micro enterprise sales and channel director Indi Siriniwasa:

” With the growing threat of ransomware attacks specifically aimed at Australian organisations, we recommend that enterprises and small businesses are more vigilant than ever. The new ransomware families have sophisticated delivery and evasion techniques such as self-destructing after they successfully complete their routine. The best way to defend against this sophistication is to use a multilayered security approach”

Keep up to date with ransomware threats by following the Lifehacker Australia Ransomware tag.


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