MELANI has noticed a significant increase in cyberattacks coupled with extortion demands for money since January 2016. These attacks aim to render the victims' data unusable. This is usually done by using Trojans to encrypt data or by overloading the server with malicious DDoS attacks. The victim then receives a demand for payment of a ransom. The attackers set their sights on data or systems that are of value to an individual or company and are important enough that the victim is willing to pay a ransom. The semi-annual report shows the strategy behind these attacks, how to react if affected and means of prevention.
In the first half of 2016, 6,000 hacked email and password combinations were forwarded to MELANI. These accounts could have been misused for illegal purposes such as fraud, extortion or phishing if the users did not immediately change the passwords. In order to support possible victims, MELANI published an online tool for checking whether one's email address had been hacked.
The 23rd MELANI semi-annual report is published at:
