With 67% Attacks, Indian Businesses At High Risk From Ransomwares

India is at top when it comes to being the victim of ransomware attacks. With 67% Indian companies hit by ransomware -- 38% twice -- they are at a high risk of repeated ransomware attacks and are vulnerable to exploits, showed a study conducted by security software maker Sophos.

The study report further said that, $13.74 million were spent by 3% of the organisations worldwide to rectify the impact of ransomware and among this India's share remained the highest at $1.17 million.

It is also to be noted that, that 91% Indian organisations claimed running up-to-date endpoint protection when impacted by ransomware.

The study, The State of Endpoint Security Today, surveyed 2,700 IT managers in organizations of 100 to 5,000 users in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, India, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan and South Africa. The number of respondents in India was 300.

More than 70 percent surveyed do not have anti-exploit technology, which means these businesses are easy prey for data breaches and complex threats like WannaCrypt.

Over 70 percent of IT professionals surveyed were unable to identify the correct definition of anti-exploit technology, despite how critical it is for modern attack prevention.

The survey also pointed out some significant variation in plans for predictive technologies across the globe. Canada, India and South Africa, whch showed to have the highest levels of machine learning technology, lead with 34 per cent of respondents already using predictive threat technologies such as deep and machine learning. Mexico has the most extensive plans for these technologies, with 72 per cent planning to implement them within the next year. India is most optimistic about the potential of machine learning.

Notably, this is one of many warnings given to India time to time regarding cyberattacks, for which the country is unprepared. To recall, in last October an IBM report revealed that India can not handle big cyber attacks despite of the fact that the country has abundant talent and tools.

In the same month, QuickHeal, a global IT security firm, revealed that a forum on DarkNet is reportedly selling data stolen from over 6,000 Indian businesses that includes Internet Service Providers (ISPs), some of the key government organisations, banks and enterprises.

WannaCry Attacks Forces Microsoft to Release Update for OS It Doesn't Support

In the wake of the recent WannaCry ransomware saga, Software giant Microsoft has released new security updates for older versions of Windows so as to protect all its Windows customers from any such potential cyber-attacks. The move has come as a surprise to many as the giant typically issues updates only for the operating systems that it is still supporting.

The security updates by Microsoft also includes updates to Windows XP, the OS that was recently targeted by the WannaCry ransomware attack.

For the uninitiated, Ransomware is a malware that blocks access to a computer or its data and demands money to release it. The infamous malware had attacked parts of Britain’s National Health Service and other companies worldwide in May this year.

While Microsoft normally releases updates only for OS that it is still supporting- that means Windows 7 and newer versions, It decided to change its practice this time and extend its service to older versions too because it didn't want the WannaCry ransomeware episode to be repeated again. During the attack in May, the malware ended up taking advantage of un-patched versions of windows to encrpyt millions of computers worldwide.

Commenting on the new security updates, Adrienne Hall, the head of Microsoft’s Cyber Defense Operations Center talked to the Guardian and said, “Due to the elevated risk for destructive cyber-attacks at this time, we made the decision to take this action because applying these updates provides further protection against potential attacks with characteristics similar to WannaCrypt [alternative name to WannaCry]."

According to industry insiders, the recently released NSA hacking tools, which were released online by an entity calling itself The Shadow Brokers has led Microsoft to believe that there is a potential for state-sanctioned attacks to take place sometime in the near future. The Shadow Brokers were the ones who were responsible for exposing the vulnerability, referred to by the NSA as EternalBlue, which led to WannaCry being able to replicate itself and cause so much chaos all around the globe.

The new security updates by Microsoft will be taking care of a total of 16 vulnerabilities, of which Microsoft believes 15 are critical.

While some welcomed Microsoft's move to include older versions, others weren't so happy and argued that by providing these updates it is just sending out a message to those recalcitrant corporations still using Windows XP to continue using the older version as if and when something serious comes up, Microsoft will update it anyway. However, one needs to take note that more older the Windows version more risk they are putting on the security of their OS and thus their organisation's future.

While WannaCry ransomware couldn't affect Windows XP, it did get to some systems which were running Windows Vista, which is a slightly newer unsupported version of OS.

[Top Image: PSYCHODAILY]