According to official figures, there are two or three cases every week of hackers demanding a ransom from Belgian companies whose data they have hacked. However, the true figure is probably much higher. The Director General of the Centre for Cybersecurity Miguel De Bruycker says that he can’t stress enough that introducing a simple two-step verification could prevent many issues with hacking.
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Hackers demand ransoms from companies in Belgium two or three times every week
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During 2022 the Belgian Centre for Cybersecurity (CCB) received reports from 97 companies of ransomware having been put onto their IT systems by hackers. During the first three months of this year there were 27 such reports. The figures show that on average hackers demand a ransom from companies two or three times every week. This figure has been more or less stable during the past two years.
However, the CCB’s figures don’t tell the full story as companies are not obliged to report incidences of ransomware, CCB’s Director General Miguel De Bruycker told VRT News. According to information on the dark web, an illicit part of the internet that used by criminals, the number of ransomware cases in Belgium is in fact much higher.
Miguel De Bruycker says that a few relatively simple measures can be taken to prevent hackers from being able to install ransomware. When hacking into to IT systems in order to install ransomware cybercriminals most often use stolen login credentials to launch their attack. The login details are stolen via phishing messages or by the use of computer viruses that collect passwords.
A large portion of such cyberattacks can be prevented by, for example, the use of two-step verification. In the coming weeks CCB will launch a campaign calling on companies and organisations to better protect themselves against hackers.
Ransomware
Ransomware is the contraction of "ransom" and "malware" meaning malicious software.
When talking about ransomware, or hostage-taking software, this could be a reference to the software itself, but it could also refer to the tactics used by hackers. They issue ransom demands for the return of data or to unblock a computer system.