Mumbai: Ransomware malware attacks in India have increased over the past few years, making it one of the top five nations to encounter this problem, according to an executive official from software security group Kaspersky.
According to reports, Vitaly Kamluk, Head of APAC Global Research and Analysis Team, Kaspersky Lab, said that Ransomware attacks are increasing in India and it is definitely one of the top five countries where the virtual infection exists.
Kumuk presented vital insights during a round-table conference held on Friday, pointing out that India occupies the first spot among the list of countries that were attacked by Teslacrypt ransomware in March-May 2016. Moreover, the country also ranked fourth in its count of Locky Ransomware attacks during the same period.
During the discussion, he also mentioned that 11,674 users in India were attacked by TeslaCrypt ransomware during March-May 2016; 564 users were victims of Locky ransomware during the same phase.
Giving a state-wise count of the attacks, Kumluk pointed out that Karnataka with 36.58 per cent attacks was the most affected state, Tamil Nadu came second with 16.72 per cent, Maharashtra occupied the third spot with 10.86 per cent attacks, and Delhi with 10 per cent was the last one in double digits.
Other than that, there were other states which were subjected to lesser attacks such a West Bengal, UP, Telangana, Kerala, Gujarat, and Haryana.
On different types of Ransomware, he explained that there are predominantly five types of ransomware globally—encryption ransomware, master boot record (MBR) ransomware, screen locker, ransomware encryption web servers, and mobile device ransomware.
In all these cases, most users that were subjected to ransomware attacks were victims of their own ignorance, added Kumluk. Adding to that point, he said most of the infections are caused by malicious websites, malvertising, transfer of affected file via-email (documents or multimedia files), and instant messaging and social networks.
‘Don’t surrender to ransomwares’
Kumluk also said that users who have be attacked by a ransomware should not pay to get the data back, as there is no guarantee that the attacker will release the key after paying.
He also explained that users should always be ready for such attacks and keep their data backed up at all times to avoid any loss. Also, having a reliable antivirus solution helps prevent such attacks.
Citing this huge increase, he said the government and security companies should work together to curb cyber-attacks.
