Bitdefender: Germany ranks fifth among the countries affected by ransomware. Bitdefender Threat Debrief August 2021 with the latest ransomware statistics: 19,8 million ransomware detections worldwide in one month and the first signs of a REvil comeback.
Telemetry data from Bitdefender Labs shows extensive activity on the ransomware scene for the month of August. Ransomware has been detected in 174 countries. Seven percent of the detections were found in Germany. This puts Germany in fifth place worldwide behind the USA (30%), India (17%), Brazil (15%) and Iran (8%).
The WannaCryptor family is at the forefront of the attack
Worldwide ransomware detection. Attacks from 174 countries (Image: Bitdefender).
30 percent of the detections in August could be assigned to the WannaCryptor family. In total, Bitdefender Labs analyzed around 19,8 million malware detections in August, which can be assigned to 250 different ransomware families.
Indications of a REvil comeback
On July 13, 2021, parts of REvil's infrastructure went offline after former representative of malware hackers "UNKN" disappeared and was allegedly arrested. Nonetheless, even then, cybersecurity experts expected that after some time the group would reappear with a new name and improved tools.
Surprisingly, the group decided to return under the same name. REvil's servers and supporting infrastructure have recently come back online after a two-month hiatus. On September 7, 2021, HappyBlog, the group's blog posting about its latest victims, was back. The group's new mouthpiece is simply called "REvil". It is not clear whether the new REvil variants will be as successful again under a new "management". However, the Bitdefender experts urge all those responsible to be on high alert and to take the necessary precautions. Bitdefender, in cooperation with a law enforcement partner, recently presented a universal decryptor for all files encrypted with REvil up to July 13 of this year.
Go to the Bitdefender Threat Debrief
The ten most widespread ransomware families in August 2021 (Image: Bitdefender).
Bitdefender Labs count the detection of ransomware attacks for this monthly report. This is not the same as an actual infection. This value does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the damage that may have occurred. Bitdefender Telemetry analyzes messages from static malware engines in the Bitdefender OEM ecosystem, which includes over 150 technology brands using Bitdefender solutions. Bitdefender Labs discover over 400 new cyberattacks every minute and review 30 billion searches worldwide. The full Bitdefender Threat Debrief for August 2021 is available online for download here.
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About Bitdefender Bitdefender is a leading global provider of cybersecurity solutions and antivirus software, protecting over 500 million systems in more than 150 countries. Since it was founded in 2001, the company's innovations have consistently ensured excellent security products and intelligent protection for devices, networks and cloud services for private customers and companies. As the supplier of choice, Bitdefender technology is found in 38 percent of security solutions deployed around the world and is trusted and recognized by industry experts, manufacturers and customers alike. www.bitdefender.de