Security researchers are urging businesses to prepare for ransomware attacks after the discovery of a massive attack campaign
Businesses should ensure employees are aware of the dangers of email attachments in the light of evidence of large-scale ransomware distribution campaigns.
On 28 August 2017, more than 23 million email messages were sent in just 24 hours with malicious attachments containing variants of the Locky ransomware, according to researchers at AppRiver.
Businesses are advised to pay particular attention to raising awareness among employees who have access to sensitive data with high business impact.
In the second quarter of 2017, ransomware was the most popular form of malware, with 68% of all malicious email messages bearing some variant of ransomware, according to security firm Proofpoint.
In particular, email recipients should be wary of any attachments to email with the subject such as: please print, documents, photo, images, scans, pictures, and payment.
Some of the latest Locky campaings send emails appearing to be from the targeted organisation’s scanner, printer or other legitimate source, warns Comodo Threat Intelligence Lab.