Taiwan was one of the countries worst hit by ransomware attacks last year, falling victim to millions of attacks, according to Trend Micro Inc’s (趨勢科技) annual security roundup.
Global software security company Trend Micro found in its 2017 Annual Security Roundup: The Paradox of Cyberthreats that companies worldwide lost up to US$5 billion due to massive ransomware outbreaks.
That is four times the level recorded in 2016, although the number of ransomware-related threats decreased from 1.078 billion in 2016 to 631 million last year.
Although there were fewer ransomware attacks last year, they had greater impact, the company said.
These included the WannaCry ransomware attack, which is estimated to have affected more than 200,000 computers in 150 countries in May last year.
Taiwan was heavily affected by the malware, with the National Security Bureau reporting that 185 computers were infected.
Other features of last year’s attacks were the tendency to use business e-mail compromises — scams targeting companies in which the hacker impersonates an executive and requests wire transfers or sensitive information via e-mail — and the focus on cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin.
The growing popularity and profitability of cryptocurrencies has led cybercriminals to target the field, Trend Micro said.
Companies that need to comply with the EU’s newly passed General Data Protection Regulation (GDRP) should double down on cybersecurity measures, as cybercriminals could target them knowing they would have to pay a fine for any instances of leaked data, it said.
Cybercriminals could steal data from such companies and charge a ransom just below the fine they would be required to pay based on the GDRP, it added.
Cybercriminals are developing new ways to make money from cyberattacks — methods that are targeted and specific so they can optimize the profitability of each attack, Trend Micro marketing manager Jon Clay said.
Companies need to protect themselves with the newest versions of cyberprotection software to minimize risks, he added.
CHIP WAR: Tariffs on Taiwanese chips would prompt companies to move their factories, but not necessarily to the US, unleashing a ‘global cross-sector tariff war’ US President Donald Trump would “shoot himself in the foot” if he follows through on his recent pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese and other foreign semiconductors entering the US, analysts said. Trump’s plans to raise tariffs on chips manufactured in Taiwan to as high as 100 percent would backfire, macroeconomist Henry Wu (吳嘉隆) said. He would “shoot himself in the foot,” Wu said on Saturday, as such economic measures would lead Taiwanese chip suppliers to pass on additional costs to their US clients and consumers, and ultimately cause another wave of inflation. Trump has claimed that Taiwan took up to
A start-up in Mexico is trying to help get a handle on one coastal city’s plastic waste problem by converting it into gasoline, diesel and other fuels. With less than 10 percent of the world’s plastics being recycled, Petgas’ idea is that rather than letting discarded plastic become waste, it can become productive again as fuel. Petgas developed a machine in the port city of Boca del Rio that uses pyrolysis, a thermodynamic process that heats plastics in the absence of oxygen, breaking it down to produce gasoline, diesel, kerosene, paraffin and coke. Petgas chief technology officer Carlos Parraguirre Diaz said that in
SUPPORT: The government said it would help firms deal with supply disruptions, after Trump signed orders imposing tariffs of 25 percent on imports from Canada and Mexico The government pledged to help companies with operations in Mexico, such as iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), shift production lines and investment if needed to deal with higher US tariffs. The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday announced measures to help local firms cope with the US tariff increases on Canada, Mexico, China and other potential areas. The ministry said that it would establish an investment and trade service center in the US to help Taiwanese firms assess the investment environment in different US states, plan supply chain relocation strategies and
Japan intends to closely monitor the impact on its currency of US President Donald Trump’s new tariffs and is worried about the international fallout from the trade imposts, Japanese Minister of Finance Katsunobu Kato said. “We need to carefully see how the exchange rate and other factors will be affected and what form US monetary policy will take in the future,” Kato said yesterday in an interview with Fuji Television. Japan is very concerned about how the tariffs might impact the global economy, he added. Kato spoke as nations and firms brace for potential repercussions after Trump unleashed the first salvo of
RSS