Ransomware Grew Enormously During Q2-2013, Reports McAfee

McAfee, which lately published its "Second Quarter Threat Report," shows that fresh ransomware samples increased twice the number during Q2-2013 from Q1-2013, thus indicating a ransomware count much greater in 2013 compared to the entire recorded over the combined periods earlier.

The security company found that ransom malware samples that blocked access to the contaminated PCs for their owners so that criminals behind the malware could extort ransom fees against retrieving the lost access were more in number during the 2nd Quarter, counting 320,000+ that was twofold over the earlier quarter, thus indicating a high earning from the trick.

According to McAfee, the growth invokes little surprise since ransomware enables online criminals to have different kinds of powers as also means for earning revenue.

One reason, as per the report, why ransomware is increasing has to do with their efficiency for crooks in making bucks out of them as they utilize different unknown mediums of payment. When money is churned through this method, the profit is higher than in the case of fake anti-viruses, say, that requires credit card payment processing in return of the bogus program, states McAfee. V3.co.uk published this dated August 21, 2013.

One more explanation has to do with an already present underground economy where pay-per-install facilities are available for PCs contaminated with other malicious software like Citadel, as well as simple-to-operate crime-ware kits obtainable. These advantages suggest ransomware attacks aren't going away anytime soon.

In addition, with regards to spam mails, McAfee states they have risen from the 2013 1st Quarter.

Remarking about this observation, Messaging Data Architect Adam Wosotowsky who's also co-author of the security company's study paper stated that although spam increase during the quarter didn't reach a never-before high level, still people received a mean of 10-15 junk e-mails daily. That was vicious, he described. Scmagazineuk.com reported this dated August 22, 2013.

Lastly, the report describes hijacked/dubious websites as not halting being a danger for, during Q2-2013, dubious URLs rose 16%, making the aggregate almost 75m. This likely suggests the success Internet criminals attain while contaminating and repurposing lawful online sites, McAfee observes.

» SPAMfighter News - 8/29/2013