Ransomware poses most dangerous threat for both organisations and individuals: Report

Ransomware poses the most dangerous cyber threat for both organisations and individuals, with global losses now running to hundreds of millions of dollars, according to a new study.

Global cybersecurity software major Symantec's Norton, found that globally, consumers were the most likely victims of ransomware, accounting for 57 per cent of all infections between January 2015 and April 2016.

During the January 2015 - April 2016 period, the US, recorded the maximum number of ransomware attacks, followed by Canada and Australia. India, which accounted for 9 per cent of the total infections, was at number four globally among the affected countries. ''Ransomware can vary from holding treasured family photos, hijacking unfinished manuscripts for novels, and blocking access to tax returns, banking records and other valuable documents to ransom. Moreover, there is no guarantee that paying the ransom will release those padlocks,'' said Ritesh Chopra.

While most ransomware attacks are not directed at any particular group of users, consumers mostly fell prey due to weaker security, according to commentators. ''The average ransom demanded globally by attackers also saw an upward spike this year. The average ransom demanded to date in 2016 more than doubled from Rs 19,670 in 2015 to Rs 45,428,'' the study highlighted.

According to experts, though the threat had been around for over a decade, it had been increasing at an alarming rate in the last two years, with the emergence of 100 new ransomware families in the last one year alone, Chopra said, releasing the latest data on ransomware in Hyderabad yesterday.

''They are learning new tricks and making it more complicated. With the increased availability of encryption tools, they are locking computer or mobile devices using such tools. You can unlock the devices with a code for which you will have to pay a fortune,'' he said.