• by Ray Schultz , December 7, 2017

Cyberattacks have grown in “scale, complexity and malice,” thanks to the group of malefactors called the New Mafia, according to a study by Malwarebytes. 

Ransomeware is the tool of choice, says the study titled “The New Mafia: Gangs and Vigilantes — A Guide to Cybercrime for CEOS.”

This form of cyber crime increased by 289% in 2016, and by 1,988.6% from September 2015 to September of this year. Overall, the average monthly volume of attacks is up 23% this year.

Ransomeware attacks through October surpassed last year’s total by 62%. And they grew in number from 90,351 in January to 333,871 in October.

However, the use of botnets decreased by nearly 50% through October 2017.

The report cites a PwC study showing that 32% of the 6,000 respondents experienced cyber crime in 2016, compared to 24% in 2014.

What is this New Mafia?

"The 'New Mafia,' identified by our report, is characterized by the emergence of four distinct groups of cybercriminals: traditional gangs, state-sponsored attackers, ideological hackers and hackers-for-hire," states Marcin Kleczynski, CEO of Malwarebytes.

He adds, "CEOs will soon have little choice but to elevate cybercrime from a technology issue to a business-critical consideration.”

Kleczynski concludes: “The most damaging cyber attacks to businesses are the ones that go undetected for long stretches of time. In spite of high-profile occurrences over the last year, this report shows that many business executives may still have some knowledge gaps to fill."