The infamous Cryptowall ransomware has extorted around $18 million from its victims, the FBI reports.
Cryptowall is still the most active malware of the ransomware family, the bureau said in an alert meant to highlight the financial impact of ransomware. Between April 2014 and June 2015, the FBI`s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 992 complaints regarding Cryptowall.
Recent IC3 reporting identifies CryptoWall as the most current and significant ransomware threat targeting U.S. individuals and businesses,” reads the message from IC3.
Financial losses come from the ransom itself, which can be up to $10,000, as well as from costs associated with data breach mitigation, legal fees, purchase of credit monitoring services, etc. That`s because ransomware doesn`t just impact home computers. Businesses, financial institutions, government agencies, academic institutions and other organizations have been infected with ransomware.
Not long ago, Bitdefender exposed Cryptowall-spreading campaigns that hit hundreds of mailboxes with malicious .chm attachments.
Apart from the FBI recommendations, here are some extra tips to stay ransomware-free.
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Alexandra started writing about IT at the dawn of the decade - when an iPad was an eye-injury patch, we were minus Google+ and we all had Jobs.
View all postsNovember 14, 2024
September 06, 2024