British Businesses Are Riddled With Ransomware Attacks

British businesses are riddled with malware, ranging from ransomware and adware to spyware to botnets.

Threat data from the first quarter of 2017 recorded by cyber security company Malwarebytes shows that the UK is hit by more ransomware attacks than any other nation in Europe –  three times more ransomware detections from the next nearest country which is France.

This threat data is given credence with the recent ransomware attack made against University College London and the WannaCry ransomware spread across NHS hospitals.

And the UK has the second highest number of malware detection, just trailing behind Italy.

Out of all the malware detections across European countries, Italy and the UK were basically level pegging at the top spot; Italy had 16.3 percent of malware detections while the UK had 16.2 percent.

Blighted Blighty

Analysis of the threat data by Malwarebytes revealed a 500 percent increase year on year in the malware incidents faced by UK businesses.

It is important to note that the data show malware detections – not necessarily infections and successful cyber attacks, so readers need not quite cower in fear yet.

However, the volume of threat does indicate that the UK’s businesses are clearly viewed as tempting targets by cyber criminals, likely due to their relative success and the growth of Britain’s tech and fintech sectors.

“The threat landscape is changing every second with new malware variants arising every day,” said Marcin Kleczynski, Malwarebytes CEO.

“As security professionals, it is our responsibility to protect businesses from these threats, but most competitive offerings take a singular approach to the problem that cannot keep up with how fast malware is evolving. That is why we are now equipping businesses with seven different layers for stopping and remediating today’s and tomorrow’s threats.”

What may seem like corporate bluster is backed up by Malwarebyte’s expanded software and security services portfolio, which now includes a cloud platform with incident response, endpoint protection from the cyber security firm.

There are other ways to tackle security threats such as using machine learning as Silicon found out when talking to Darktrace at our Infoseucrity 2017 stand, as well as tackling issues such as security and IT integration.

Quiz: What do you know about cyber security in 2017?