Ransomware Getting More Targeted, Expensive

Summary: The FBI issued an alert warning that recent ransomware variants target vulnerable business servers rather than individual users, charging ransoms based on the number of hosts infected, and that some victims were not given decryption keys for all files after paying and were then extorted for more money. Krebs reported a financial services company that paid several $600 Bitcoin ransoms for a server whose data was worth millions and had no backups, and cited BleepingComputer's Lawrence Abrams saying kits set default ransom amounts by victim country - $200 in Bitcoin for U.S. victims versus $20 for Italian victims in one kit.
Key Takeaway: The FBI stated plainly that it does not support paying a ransom, because payment does not guarantee access to data and some victims never receive decryption keys - yet the anecdote at the center of this piece is a company that paid $600 several times over for data worth tens of millions it had never backed up.

Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗

Topics: Ransomware
Related: Inside the ransomware playbook: Analyzing attack chains and mapping common TTPs Cyber Risks ·
Unwrapping the emerging Interlock ransomware attack Cyber Risks ·
Year in Review: The biggest trends in ransomware Cyber Risks ·