Kaspersky Lab Report Confirms Ransomware Spiked in Q1 2017

Security reports from multiple vendors in the last few months have detailed the rise of ransomware in 2016. A new report from Kaspersky Lab released on May 22, now shows that the ransomware trend accelerated significantly in the first quarter of 2017. In the first quarter of the year, Kaspersky Lab reported that its technologies detected and defended against  479,528,279 malicious attacks. Looking specifically at ransomware, Kaspersky reported that ransomware attacks were blocked on 240,799 computers of unique users. Ransomware has grown particularly fast on mobile devices rising from 4.64 percent of detected infections in the fourth quarter of 2016 to 16.42 percent in the first quarter of 2017. This slideshow looks at some of the highlights of the Kaspersky Lab Malware Report for the 2017 first quarter.

Ransomware grew to 16.42 percent of mobile malware detected by Kaspersky in the first quarter of 2017, up from only 4.64 percent at the end of 2016.

In total, Kaspersky Lab reported that it detected 218, 625 mobile ransomware Trojan installation packages in the first quarter of 2017. The top mobile ransomware trojan was identified as Trojan-Ransom.AndroidOS.Fusob.h.

Demonstrating that mobile malware is a global issue, Kaspersky Lab reported that 47 percent of its users in Iran were attacked by some form of mobile malware, which is more than any other country.

Looking at the broader issue of ransomware, Kaspersky Lab found 11 new encryption ransomware families in the first quarter, and a total of 55, 679 new  ransomware modifications in Q1 2017.

Kaspersky Lab reported that that the Cerber ransomware trojan was the most widespread cryptor in the first quarter of 2017, account of 18 percent of attacked users.

The U.S is no long the top source of web attacks detected by Kaspersky Lab. In the first quarter of 2017, The Netherlands took the lead with 38 percent, edging out the U.S. at 30 percent.

Looking at the distribution of exploits used in attacks by the type of application attacked, Kaspersky Lab reported that browsers were the top vector at almost 44 percent.