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Brazil leads in ransomware attacks

The country ranks second after the United States on a list of the world's five most targeted markets
Written by Angelica Mari, Contributing Writer

Brazil is the world's second most threatened country by ransomware attacks, according to a new study by security firm Trend Micro.

According to the Fast Facts report, which highlighted trends in the global cybersecurity landscape, the Latin country accounts for 10,64 percent of all the ransomware attacks in the first quarter of 2019.

By comparison, the United States accounts for 11,06 percent of occurrences tracked during the first three months of the year.

India, Vietnam and Turkey are the other three markets listed in the report's list of the five countries most targeted by ransomware.

To arrive at the percentages, Trend Micro considered ransomware attacks distributed across email, URLs, and files. According to the firm, the number of such threats between January 2016 and March 2019 exceeded 1,8 billion.

When it comes to ransomware infection by type, Brazil ranks third in threats sent via email, behind China and the United States.

The study notes that for ransomware distributed via URLs, Brazil doesn't rank as high and is among the 15 most targeted countries through that channel.

However, the firm has blocked 2,5 million such threats in the country during Q1, and argues that a single malicious URL could impact about 12 Brazilian users.

Average ransom demands by hackers to release files encrypted by their ransomware attacks have almost doubled in 2019.

According to figures from cybersecurity company Coveware, average ransom organizations paid per incident during the first quarter of this year stands at $12,762, compared to $6,733 in the final quarter of 2018.

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