It’s no secret that ransomware attacks caused an unprecedented havoc in 2017. A lot of it had to do with the fact that almost no one was prepared to face the threats the ransomware posed. Almost all of them had cyber security protocols that proved utterly incapable of detecting them. The lack of ransomware removal tools hurt the domestic users more than anyone else. This is partly the reason why almost 70 percent of the domestic users infected with ransomware chose to pay the ransom amount.
For the businesses, there was absolutely no coherent way to remove ransomware. Even through the help of several government agencies could only muster up the traditional option of having to back up all their files and then re-install their operating system.
Here are some statistics provided by MonsterCloud University
Several industries and corporations were hit. However, it was the financial institutions that bore most of the brunt of it all. According to Carbon Black which is a cyber security agency, almost 40 major financial institutions were targets of coordinated ransomware attacks in 2017. This includes the top 6 of the world’s top 10 banks.
The reason why banks and financial institutions would be targeted isn’t something that is hidden. Not only do they possess the largest database of customer information in the private sector, they also have the vital banking information. By infiltrating the databases of these banks, ransomware was able to get access to billions worth of information.
When these attacks took place, the banks seemed utterly incapable of coming up with a counter strategy. To their credit, they were not alone. Even the government agencies that were later the targets of WannaCry and NotPetya couldn’t figure out what to do. Several ransomware removal techniques were applied but none of them produced definite results.
In the end, a lot of these financial institutions chose to pay the ransoms demanded in order to secure the information of their clients. In their own words, this had caused irreparable damage to the level of trust that customers had in their information being safe and secure.
They’ve expressed interest and hope that there will soon be a proper ransomware removal tool on the market which will make their servers and information a lot more secure.
