James Cox
Irish organisations have been warned about a 413 per cent increase in ransomware attacks since June 2020.
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd, a provider of cyber security solutions globally, issued the warning following the large rise in cyberattacks.
The group's experts have also warned the situation is likely to get worse.
They have recorded:
- 149 per cent increase in ransomware attacks over the last two months.
- 117 per cent increase since beginning of the year.
- 413 per cent increase since June 2020 (compared to 23 per cent in UK, and 93 per cent globally).
Following recent high profile ransomware attacks in Ireland, Check Point Research (CPR) is revealing its latest findings in a fresh bid to warn Irish organisations to be more vigilant, as it believes the surge in ransomware attacks is yet to reach its pinnacle.
'Alaraming increase in ransomware attacks'
Check Point’s Country manager for Ireland, Hugh McGauran says: “The ransomware business is booming. We’re seeing global surges in ransomware across every major geography, especially in the last two months, but it’s particularly alarming to see such an increase in Ireland. Alongside recent high profile attacks in our country, it has highlighted how much more work there needs to be done, particularly when it comes to preventing attacks from happening in the first place.
“We believe this surge in attacks is partly down to headlines around massive ransom pay-outs, such as Colonial Pipeline giving up $4.4 million, attracting money-hungry cybercriminals. Second, threat actors have shifted their tactics from stealing data to disrupting critical infrastructure. Attacks on the latter weren’t really mainstream, until now. Week after week, from healthcare systems to JBS to the Colonial Pipeline, we’re seeing ransomware gangs go after some of the most critical facets of society.
“And third, hackers are increasingly becoming more creative and innovative in their ransomware tactics, introducing methods such as 'triple extortion', where the threat actors not only demand ransom from organisations, but also threaten their customers, users and other third parties. Unfortunately, it’s only going to get worse, as I don’t think we’ve seen the peak for ransomware attacks. The threat actors behind ransomware aren’t just becoming bigger, they’re becoming better at what they do.”
