In May 2017, there was a massive worldwide infection of both personal computers and organizations, by a ransomware-type malware that, after being installed on the computer, blocked access to the affected computer's files and as is usual in this type of virus, a ransom was requested to allow access. On May 19 it was estimated that 360,000 computers had been infected in 180 countries.
Greater connection, greater impact.
According to the INE (National Institute of Statistics) in 2017 83.4% of Spanish households have access to the internet, compared to 81.9% in 2016 and in Spain there are already over 13.5 million homes with broadband Internet access. This gives us an idea of the impact that a massive attack can have on our homes if it manages to have a high percentage of success.
Attacks increase.
Experts in Cyber security like Symantec's Strategist & Evangelist, Ramsés Gallego, believe that this has only just begun and that the attacks will continue to occur as if the first attacks of 2017 were a proof of concept. And he may be right, when a month after the attack of wannacry there is another massive infection of computers with Windows systems in different organizations. The malware responsible is a ransomware type and belongs to the family known as Petya or Petrwrap. Once the system is compromised, it requests payment of 300 dollars.
The origin of the attack is located in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian security services point to Russia as the main responsible of the cyberattack. According to Ukraine, the objective was not to receive the ransom in bitcoins but to disturb both State operations and those of private companies, in addition to provoking political instability in the country.
Security cyber security. Key factors.
- The emergence of the IoT (Internet of Things) and the explosion in the number of interconnected devices is a factor that boosts the risk of cyber-attacks. On October 21st, 2016 a cyber attack to the domain name provider Dyn left inaccessible a large number of platforms and Internet services (including Amazon.com) to a large number of users in Europe and North America. It was a massive attack using devices IoT for its execution.
- The emergence of the virtual currency bitcoin , and its increase in value and its recent revaluation makes many people think of cryptocurrency as a very lucrative business. The price of bitcoin plummeted in December 2017 in Asian markets to 15% after the South Korean cryptocurrency platform Youbit announced its bankruptcy after suffering a virtual theft of approximately 17% of its digital currencies in the portfolio.
All this confirms that we have a new paradigm of war and crime, and that security has become cyber security because we live in a world that is constantly month after month more connected. This is serious.
Miguel Ares. Project Manager.