Ransomware attacks on businesses rose 500 percent since last year

The number of ransomware attacks detected against businesses has increased by more than 500 percent since last year. Criminals are focusing less and less on individual victims and more on companies, according to the quarterly report from Malwarebytes.

In the first quarter of 2019, Malwarebytes found 508 percent more ransomware infections at companies than in the same period a year earlier, according to the Labs Cybercrime Tactics and Techniques report from the security company. The big increase is mainly due to a big attack with Troldesh. That ransomware hit many American companies at the beginning of this year.

Since the last quarter of 2018, there has been a 195% increase in companies. Worldwide, most attacks occur in America. Just under half of ransomware attacks come from there. Malwarebytes attributes the increase to the fact that companies are more likely to pay higher amounts to get their files or computer systems back. At the same time, the increase in infected companies means a decrease in the number of individual victims. Last year there were almost a quarter fewer victims among this group.

Crypto mining aimed at consumers has also virtually stopped, says Malwarebytes. This is mainly due to CoinHive shutting down last month. Virtually every cryptojacking attack used CoinHive’s tool. Malwarebytes, on the other hand, is seeing an increase in mobile adware attacks. The increase was 200 percent since last quarter.