A look at ransomware incidents targeting the manufacturing industry, which according to Trend Micro was the most targeted sector in Q3 2020, involving 150 firms (Look Trend Micro Q3lyngaascyberscoop)

Look Trend Micro Q3lyngaascyberscoop: The manufacturing industry has been hit the hardest by the ongoing ransomware crisis, with 150 companies affected in Q3 2020. Here’s a look at the state of ransomware, how it affects us all, and what we can do to protect ourselves.

So what is this new type of malware? Ransomware is a type of malware that prevents access to data and demands payment for its release. Before it does this, it seeks out a way to infect the system of the user and then appends itself to that host operating system. Once it is infected, it proceeds to encrypt all files on the compromised computer and places them under a particular directory that contains a file with its own extension – .doc,. .xls,. .ppt etc (these filenames include numbers but we’ll discuss that later). After encryption, it leaves a ransom note on the desktop with a demand for a certain amount of money.

Ransomware is not new, but what has changed is its distribution and payment methods. For example, in 2016 ransomware was distributed via email attachments and drive-by download attacks. Now it could be embedded into fake software updates or be spread through infected USBs.

Different types of ransomware will also append its own extensions to your files instead of just appending .doc,. .xls,. .ppt as mentioned above. This extension is unique to each type of ransomware.

Ransomware attacks in the manufacturing industry have increased by 170% in the past two years. This makes it the most targeted sector in Q3 2020, a report released by Trend Micro has found. It cited this rapid growth as a “cause for concern”, despite the fact that companies are actually losing very little money because they are able to recover their encrypted data without paying ransoms.

Why the manufacturing industry?

Factories have always been seen as big, high-value targets for cybercriminals. According to statistics by the Cyber Threat Alliance, 98% of infections in manufacturing industries are due to workers downloading malware from their personal devices that is then transferred to company systems. These attacks commonly target engineering software. As these programs are more complex and almost impossible to secure, they become an easy target. This also makes them perfect targets because employees are more likely to open an infected file than a regular office worker.

Are you or your company affected?

Some interesting numbers: 100% of the companies that were hit by ransomware in the third quarter of this year are dealing with the aftermath, – and some are struggling to recover. If your company is affected, contact Collexit to find out what type of ransomware it is infected with and how much you need to pay to get back on track.

The amount of money lost in Q3 was about $4.6 million for the 150 firms that had their files encrypted.