No More Ransom a year of running with 28.000 decrypted devices and more than 100 partners worldwide, including the Greek Police through the Electronic Crime Prosecution Division.
A year ago, 25 July 2016 launched the initiative No More Ransom from the Dutch Police, Europol, McAfee and Kaspersky Lab. Today, there are more than 100 partners as large-scale ransomware attacks continue to dominate the news, hitting businesses, governments and individuals around the world.
The threat of ransomware is staggering
The ransomware has grown from 2012, with criminals lured by the promise of profit and ease of implementation. The threat continues to evolve, with attacks becoming more and more difficult to detect and devastating, focusing more on businesses than on individuals, as potential profits are much higher.
Or without discrimination attack WannaCry στα μέσα Μαΐου έπληξε περισσότερες από 300.000 επιχειρήσεις σε 150 countries in the first few days, destroying critical infrastructure and businesses. Some organizations are still struggling to recover from the June 27 ExPetya attacks.
The total number of users who experienced ransomware attacks between April 2016 and March 2017 increased by 11,4% compared to the previous 12 months from 2.315.931 to 2.581.026 users worldwide [1].
The first year of No More Ransom in numbers
The site now has 54 decryption tools, which are provided by 9 partners and cover 104 ransomware (families). So far, these tools have managed to decipher more than 28.000 devices, depriving digital criminals of about 8 million in ransom.
The portal has received over 1,3 millions of unique visitors. Only on 14 May, during the WannaCry crisis, 150.000 people visited the site.
The No More Ransom platform is now available in 26 languages, with the most recent additions being Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian, Romanian, Swedish, Tamil and Thai.
More than 100 partners: no distinction between private, public or competitive businesses
No More Ransom now has 109 partners. The most recent additions include from the private sector the Companies: Abelssoft, Ascora GmbH, Barclays, Bitsight, Bournemouth University (BU), CERT.BE, Claranet, CSA Singapore, ESTSecurity, Fortinet, Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) IPA, KISA (Korea Internet and Security Agency), TWCERT / CC, LLC, University of Porto and vpnMentor. Four new law enforcement agencies have also joined from the Czech Republic, Greece, Hong Kong and Iran.
The success of the No More Ransom initiative is a common success, which can not be achieved solely by prosecuting authorities or by the private sector. By combining our strengths, we strengthen our ability to capture criminals and prevent them from harming other people, businesses and critical infrastructure once and for all.
There is no better treatment from prevention
Law enforcement agencies at a global level, in close cooperation with private sector partners, are conducting ongoing investigations into ransomware criminals and infrastructure. However, prevention is undoubtedly better than cure. Internet users must first and foremost avoid becoming victims. Many updated prevention tips are available at www.nomoreransom.org. If you are a victim, it is important that you do not pay the ransom and report the "infection" to the police.
