Collaborative Initiative Celebrates Helping More Than 200,000 Victims and Preventing More Than 100 million USD From Falling into Criminal Hands
Three years ago, on this exact day, the public and private sectors drew a line in the sand against ransomware. At that time, ransomware was becoming one of the most prevalent cyber threats globally. We were hearing stories of patients being turned away from hospitals and the urgent medical attention they needed because someone clicked on a link in an email! Since that time, every sector has had a litany of examples where companies targeted by ransomware attacks were faced with the digital equivalent of Sophie’s Choice: pay criminals or potentially lose your business.
Three years ago, to this very day, the No More Ransom initiative gave victims a third option: retrieve their files back for free. Of course, a silver bullet for all forms of ransomware does not exist but, as the free decryptor made available by the initiative for the GandCrab ransomware has shown, there is hope.
A Public Private Collaboration Where Success is Measured by Every Victim Saved
No More Ransom began because of an operational problem that could only be solved through collaboration. A Law Enforcement Agency had seized a server which contained private keys that could help decrypt thousands of victims of a particular ransomware family. This provided a great opportunity to help thousands of people—but there was a problem.
A Law Enforcement Agency is bound by a geographical jurisdiction; further, developing decryption software is not its core competency. Fortunately, both global reach and software development happened to be exactly what cybersecurity companies could bring to the table.
It is exciting to see how the initiative has expanded at an enormous rate. Back when we started, we would never have believed that in merely three years we would have helped over 200,000 victims and prevented more than 100 million US dollars from falling into criminal hands.
Even though cyber threats, including ransomware, are constantly evolving we remain confident that, together, we can continue to take a stand and disrupt this form of cybercrime. We are also delighted that so many public and private sector institutions have joined in this fight against the threat of ransomware. What began as a small group of individuals in a room in the Hague is now a global initiative, working together to fight back.
Remember #DontPay #NoMoreRansom
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