The number of such attacks rapidly increased starting on June 3, Korean Memorial Day, centered around Ppomppu, one of Korea’s largest online communities. (image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, June 10 (Korea Bizwire) – Estsoft, a Korean software manufacturer, revealed Thursday a new daily record for the number of ransomware attacks that its vaccine program, Alyac, has blocked.
Ransomeware refers to a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid.
The total number of blocked ransomware attacks on June 7 was 44,967. This is the highest number since Estsoft started keeping track of the number of blocked attacks by Alyac in January.
Alyac’s daily number of blocked ransomware attacks drastically increased beginning on June 3, with 30,399 recorded on June 5 and 42,359 on June 6.
The program’s total number of blocked attacks since January is 2.2 million.
Hauri, another software manufacturer, also revealed that the number of repelled ransomware by its malware prevention program, APT Shield, exceeded 20,000 on June 8. APT Shield has blocked a total of 21,739 ransomware attacks since February 2015, which is when ransomware started to become more prevalent in Korea.
The number of such attacks rapidly increased starting on June 3, Korean Memorial Day, centered around Ppomppu, one of Korea’s largest online communities.
One of the most common ransomware programs is CryptXXX, which attacks users at random through online banner ads, mainly through Internet Explorer’s Flash Player for ads. Accessing a website alone can infect a computer. Victims of CryptXXX were asked to pay 1.2 bitcoins ($693) to restore access to their systems.
“Prevention is the best countermeasure against ransomware,” advised an industry expert. “Users should always update their Flash Player and Java, and even their operating systems to the latest versions, and keep the habit of backing up their hard drives as well as using security software that stops ransomware attacks.”
By Joseph Shin (jss539@koreabizwire.com)
