The year 2016 has seen an exponential rise in ransomware cases around the world. In Singapore alone, 17 cases of ransomware were reported in the first 11 months this year, up from just two in 2015, the Cyber Security Agency (CSA) said.
Ransomware attacks mean when a hacker is successful in encrypting the user's files or lock a user's computer and then he demand money from the user in order to regain the access to his own files or computer.
According to one of the firms who got badly affected by ransomware was a subsidiary of maritime supply chain management company BH Holdings. The company got affected when two of its staff members tried to open an email attachment from an unknown source, recounts IT executive Roberto Ang. "They double-clicked on it, and they could not open it. So they thought that it's just some file that cannot be opened. So they just ignored it and continued working.
"Then after half a day, they started to find that they cannot access some of the files, and these had a weird extension."
Mr. Ang. noticed that something is wrong when, "I saw that there was a text file inside the encrypted folder that showed that it was ransomware, asking for payment to decrypt the files."
The company refused to pay the ransom of US$1,000 (S$1,447). Instead, their technical team tried to rebuild 3,000 infected files with data of the accounts and stocks from hard copy files.
Attackers are more interested in targeting big businesses rather than individuals as they have more critical and important information rather than any individual and that would compel them to pay up a ransom, an expert told Channel NewsAsia.
Tarun Kaura, security advocate at Symantec explains this scenario. "Let's say I'm an HR professional in a specific enterprise, and I've been given a target for a recruitment drive. I have to hire a few people - it's important because there are deadlines," he said.
"If I go on public social websites saying I'm hiring ... someone (an attacker) can craft an email sending a maybe a resume or information on a talent pool that I would want to look into. That's how they go after certain departments or people in an enterprise - by being more relevant and contextual to a business."
So how you should protect yourself from ransomware attack? Mr. Kaura gives advice to the common people, before opening any email just look at the header of the email and scrutinize its contents. "If you see a bit of ambiguity in that in terms of how it's been named and where it's coming from, which domain it's coming from, it is easy for a consumer to figure out that this mail is not coming from a legitimate source.
"You should take a step back and see ... let's not click everything that comes to you."