It’s no use crying over spilled milk. Or rather, there is no use crying over leaked data. In an increasingly connected world with information accessible through the Internet, companies, individuals and cryptocurrency investors should prioritize investing in cybersecurity.
A recent report published by Verizon, developed with the support of Brazilian cyber intelligence Apura, points out that cybercriminals mainly target companies looking for sensitive data and even employee credentials to demand ransoms (Bitcoin payments) in exchange for non-disclosure. or data return.
Called ransomware, this type of attack effectively leaking data and damaging businesses grew by 13% in 2021 alone.
Ransomware generally consists of malware that, by infecting the victim’s system, encrypt files in such a way that they cannot be accessed. Criminals responsible for infecting the system they only release the decryption key that will allow access to these files upon payment of the amount required by them.
However, the total number of attacks was much higher in the period, experts warn, since not all of them are registered and not all victims pay for the ransom of the information.
“The data in the report only points to cases where data was indeed leaked and recorded, however, the number of attack attempts, even if there was no leak, was much higher. In a simple analogy, it is as if hit-and-run attacks are equal to the number of car accidents that had the insurance claim by those involved. This does not represent the total number of claims, since in the vast majority of them the insurance does not exist or is not activated. It is necessary to remain vigilant and ensure data securitythrough constant monitoring of cyber threats”, comments Marco Romer, Apura Cyber Intelligence Reports Coordinator.
Romer explains that these criminals also commonly steal important files from victims’ devices before encrypting them. Later, in what became known as the “double extortion attack”, they demand a new payment so that the information is not published, a fact that can not only damage the image of the victim with the respective clients, but also generate fines derived from data protection laws, as is the case of the LGPD in Brazil.
“It is estimated that, on average, a third of victims pay the ransom of data seized by criminals”, says Sandro Süffert, executive director of Apura.
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