Ransomware Most Profitable Malware in use: Cisco

Cisco’s 2016 Midyear Cybersecurity Report reveals that ransomware has become the most malicious and costliest form of malware to date. Among other key findings, the report found that “fragile infrastructures, poor network hygiene, and slow detection rates are the primary reasons corporations are falling victim to ransomware attacks.” What’s more, Cisco predicts things will only get worse as new and complex variations of malware are expected to surface. Cisco predicts that these new varieties will be self-propagating ransomware. This means that the malware will be able to move itself from computer to computer and network to network by reproducing itself at an alarming rate. While many individuals and organizations fail to understand the severity of the issue, Cisco warns users to prepare now by keeping patches up to date – a practice that most employees fail to do on a regular basis. However, blame cannot fall solely on the employee. Cisco explained that companies must do a better job detecting when malicious actors are inside their systems. Not only does this give cybercriminals more time to steal data, but also the chance to find weak points to exploit.