Tapping AI to Counter Rising Ransomware Threat in Big Data Era Posted on : Apr 21 - 2018

With the advances in AI and Big Data, companies are giving a fighting chance against the rising ransomware threat.

As cyber-attack outbreaks go,WannaCry didn’t really last that long from the time the first infection was discovered on the morning of May 12 until the kill switch was released by Microsoft three days later. In that short span, however, the damage reached $5 billion while hundreds of thousands of companies worldwide were compromised.

Using the NSA’s EternalBlue cyber-spying tool as the launchpad, this type of ransomware exploits a gap it the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol of Microsoft. In fact, the tech company already released patches to address the security issue prior to the attack. Unfortunately, not all companies installed the free upgrade.

The WannaCry takes the computer and server hostage and a code in the malware sends a ransom note for the company to pay in Bitcoin to recover the system hence the term, ransomware. The threat is not only to delete your files but also to release sensitive data to the public if you don’t pay up.

Prior to the attack, nobody thought much of ransomware. Cybersecurity experts thought that the makers of the malicious script are exaggerating the extent of damage their products can do. Hiring experts to recover the data would do the trick. They might claim to delete the files but actually hid it from the system and these could easily be recovered with the right tools and expertise.

In 2015, Microsoft reported that ransomware cost businesses and enterprises $325 million in damage. Clearly, cyber-syndicates realized that there’s money to be made here. In fact, just two years later after that report, cyber-attacks already cost industries $5 billion in damage in 2017.

Cisco warned that the threat of is just starting as ransomware is predicted to grow 350% every year, according to its 2017 Annual Cybersecurity Report.

What’s clear is this: with WannaCry, the spigot of ransomware threat has been turned on.  And what you have out there right now are new strains and codes that are deadlier than what we’ve encountered in the past. View More