Cybercrime is on the rise and the criminals are finding new ways to attack us.
The 2015 Internet Security Threat Report from Symantec (makers of Norton security software) released on Tuesday characterizes 2014 as a year with "far-reaching vulnerabilities, faster attacks, files held for ransom and far more malicious code than in previous years."
http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/cybercriminals-had-banner-year-2014-new-report-says-n340856
A few of the key findings:
- More than 317 million new pieces of malware were created last year, nearly a million a day
- Ransomware attacks grew 113 percent
- Crypto-ransom attacks, where the victim's files are encrypted and held hostage without warning, skyrocketed 4,000 percent to become a serious threat
- 70 percent of social media attacks rely on the initial victim to spread the threat to others