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Symantec's Internet Security Threat ReportEvery year Symantec produces a threat report analyzing how things have changed during the preceding year. The 2018 report on 2017 provided us with some interesting insights into the threat landscape. RansomwareThe year started out with ransomware as the biggest threat, but as the year progressed, Crypto currency mining made major inroads. Ransomware is malware the encrypts the victims own data and will only return access to it for a fee. This was so profitable over the last few years that the field became swamped with new vendors demanding exorbitant prices. 2017 was the correction year as ransom prices fell and new players entered the crowded market of attackers. Antivirus makers also became better at detecting and blocking them. There was also a move toward higher value targets like hospitals. They do this with spearphishing attacks. This is an attack directed at a particular target. For example, a junior accountant could get a spreadsheet from what appears to be the head accountant, or a secretary could receive an email apparently from the CEO demanding immediate dissemination of these notes for the board. Or, of course, it could go the other way. The CEO or lead accountant could get the malware infested email apparently from their subordinate. When the email is opened, the ransomware is released and your data starts getting encrypted. If your backup program saves to an external drive which Windows accesses with a drive letter, like the E drive or the X drive, then the data on your backup can be encrypted as well. The Ransomware simply moves through all your drives encrypting your documents, PDF files, accounting files, spreadsheets etc. Anything they can get to, they can encrypt. Crypto Currency Mining Crypto currency mining steals the victims' CPU cycles to mine for crypto currencies. The CPU becomes hotter, potentially limiting its life, and slower. The CPU is busy mining. Furthermore, the increased CPU usage and the additional cooling required, increases the victims electric bill, often substantially. |
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