The private sector is the most affected by ‘ransomware’

The latest edition of the Eset Security Report, an annual report that gathers responses from more than 4,500 executives, technicians, and managers from over 2,500 companies in various countries in Latin America, recorded the growing concern of the Latin American private sector regarding ransomware, malicious code that restricts access to system files and demands a ransom in return.

This type of information theft usually occurs through external attacks in which criminals encrypt valuable data and demand a monetary reward in exchange for a code to recover it. The phishing technique, identity theft, is the most commonly used by attackers to achieve this.

The Security Report found that the most vulnerable countries in the region to malware infections are Peru with 18 percent, Colombia with 19 percent, Mexico with 20 percent, and Venezuela with 22 percent; in the latter, there have been a total of 2,407 detections of WannaCryptor so far this year (the massive attack that infected 230,000 computers in 150 countries in 2017). [prefix_blockquote cite=»Agencia Efe» align=»right» pull=»yes» italic=»yes»]Last year, a ransomware attack affected more than 200,000 companies, hospitals, government agencies, and other organizations in 150 countries.[/prefix_blockquote]

Latin America still needs to prepare for these threats, as three out of five companies have suffered at least one incident so far this year, and one in five has been a victim of information kidnapping, according to the report. Furthermore, the figures show an increase in vulnerabilities. In 2017, more than 14,700 threats were reported compared to 6,447 recorded in 2016. Currently, these malicious codes are being reinvented to become increasingly difficult to combat. “Ransomware has been evolving due to the profitability it offers attackers,” the study indicates.

To avoid damage to equipment, it is necessary to implement antivirus technologies and create backup copies, constantly change passwords, and update operating systems and applications.