Darktrace reported a 30% increase in ransomware attacks on businesses during the holiday period

Cambridge, UK, February 7 /PRNewswire/ – Darktrace, the global leader in artificial intelligence for cybersecurity, today reported that its security researchers saw the average number of ransomware attempts worldwide increase during the holiday season by 30% compared to the monthly average for each consecutive year from 2018 to 2020.

The researchers also noted an average increase in ransomware attack attempts of 70% in November and December compared to January and February. After a record number of ransomware attacks this year, the company expects the number of ransomware attacks to be even higher in the 2021 holiday season.

During the upcoming 2021 holiday season, Darktrace’s AI detected an ongoing early stage ransomware attack on a US city and stopped it on its own before data theft or encryption could occur. The city’s security team had the foresight to deploy an AI solution to combat scaling ransomware attacks that would enable them to stop the attackers at an early stage.

Ransomware is often mistakenly seen as a coding problem. This misunderstanding obscures and undermines the design and creativity of attackers to first break into a company’s digital environment and then navigate it around to discover, steal, and encrypt data. Most of the time the hack is via email, but it quickly turns into an attack on the servers where the data is stored. Therefore, the combination of email and network security is critical to stopping these attacks.

Powered by self-learning AI, Darktrace advances an understanding of an organization’s normal business operations. It automatically interrupts persistent attacks at every stage, from first intrusion with sophisticated email messages to Remote Desktop Protocols (RDP), command and control, and lateral movement, all without interrupting operations.

“As we have seen over the past few years, holidays are a frequent target of cyberattacks. Interestingly, the largest increase in attempted ransomware attacks occurs between Christmas and New Years, when attackers know there are fewer eyes on screens, to defend against threats,” Justin Feier, Director of Cyber ​​Intelligence and Analytics at Darktrace commented. “Organizations should know that there is technology in place that can detect and respond to the first warning signs of ransomware before attackers can take critical systems hostage, even when security teams are away from the office.”

About Darktrace

Dark Trace (DARK:L), a global leader in artificial intelligence for cybersecurity, delivering world-class technology that protects nearly 6,000 customers worldwide from advanced threats such as ransomwareAnd clouds– And SaaSAttacks protect. The company’s fundamentally different approach is artificial intelligence self-learningTo enable machines to understand business in order to defend them independently. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, UK and employs 1,600 people in more than 30 offices around the world. Darktrace was named one of the most influential companies of 2021 by TIME magazine.

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