What does 2017 have in store for us?

Since 2015, ransomware has become one of the main threats on the Internet, attacking messaging systems and spreading mainly through them. In several articles on our news blog, we have presented the different types of ransomware and the means we use within the Altospam system to combat and block them:

• Ransomware: a ransom in exchange for your data
• Beware of CryptoWall 4.0 malware
• Locky: the ransomware raging in France and the United States

Below is a graph showing the number of viruses received on our platforms between 2005 and today. It clearly shows the “gradual” arrival of these waves of ransomware since early 2015.

In May 2016, we reported on virus spikes of over 40%! an alarming rise in attacks. This foreshadowed the increase to come at the end of 2016.

Extending the histogram over the years 2015-2016 shows the extent of the problem. In the graph below, for example, we see a peak on Monday, October 31, 2016 with 22,654,229 viruses detected on the same day (virtually all ransomware)! We’ve also noticed that these attacks don’t necessarily happen every day, as there are massive mailing campaigns through which viruses are rapidly distributed and relayed.

Systems like ours help to slow down or even stop the spread of viruses. Our customers don’t receive them, so they don’t spread them and therefore don’t infect their contacts.

Let’s return to the current situation. The most worrying thing in our view is the big void since December 23, 2016… Since that date, we’ve seen a very significant drop in virus detections and ransomware in particular. During this period, we only identified 2 minor attacks, on January 17 and February 27, 2017!

This situation leads us to fear the worst: ” the calm before the storm “.

What’s going to happen in March or April, when hackers will have developed new viruses that are both fast and effective? Is there a new generation of threats in the making?

For our part, we remain on the alert and regularly improve our system: the imminent addition of a new antivirus scanner, the refinement of our unknown threat detection systems, the daily improvement of our rules…

As a reminder, our solution integrates 5 antivirus, 4 unknown virus detection technologies and 16 antispam technologies. It is the combination of these technologies that enables us to guarantee our customers a very high level of messaging security. You’ll find more details on these technologies in the article: How to block ransomware? If you’re not yet using our services and you’re concerned about protecting your users’ e-mail, try Altospam free of charge.