NEWS
Around 30,000 devices decrypted and criminals deprived of
$8.5 million – No More Ransom celebrates its first incredible year
About one year ago the No More Ransom
initiative was launched by the Dutch
National Police, Europol, McAfee and
Kaspersky Lab. Today there are more than
100 partners, as major ransomware attacks
continue to dominate the news, hitting
businesses, governments and individuals all
over the world.
No better cure than prevention
Ransomware has soared since 2012, with
criminals lured by the promise of profit and
ease of implementation. Every quarter there
are more new ransomware families, more
variants of existing families and more attacks.
The threat continues to evolve, becoming
stealthier and more destructive, and targeting
businesses more than individuals because the
potential returns are much higher.
The indiscriminate WannaCry attack
in mid-May claimed more than 300,000
business victims across 150 countries
in its first few days, crippling critical
infrastructure and businesses. Some
organisations are still struggling to recover
from ExPetr attacks of 27 June.
The total number of users who
encountered ransomware between April
2016 and March 2017 rose by 11.4 per cent
compared to the previous 12 months, from
2,315,931 to 2,581,026 users around the world.
No More Ransom’s first year in numbers
The site now carries 54 decryption tools,
provided by nine partners and covering 104
kinds (families) of ransomware. These tools
have been downloaded 225,000 times
and have managed to decrypt more than
28,000 devices.
The portal has had more than 24.5
million page views since its launch, with
a consolidated average of 0.4 million per
day. On 14 May alone, during the WannaCry
crisis, 150,000 people visited the website.
The No More Ransom platform is now
available in 26 languages, with the most recent
additions Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Greek,
Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian,
Romanian, Swedish, Tamil and Thai.
More than 100 partners: no boundaries
between private, public or competitors
No More Ransom now has over 104
partners, including Associated, Supporting
and Founding members.
The most recent joins include, from the
private sector: Bitsight, Fortinet, Claranet,
CERT.BE, vpnMentor, KISA (Korean Internet
& Security Agency), Global Forum on Cyber
Expertise (GFCE), Bournemouth University
(BU), EST Security, TWCERT/CC, Abelssoft,
Ascora GmbH, InterWorks, LLC and CSA
Singapore. Three new law enforcement
agencies have joined from Czech Republic,
Greece and Iran.
The success of the No More Ransom
initiative is a shared success, one that
cannot be achieved by law enforcement or
private industry alone. By joining forces, we
enhance our ability to take on the criminals
and stop them from harming people,
businesses and critical infrastructure, once
and for all.
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