Number of ransomware modifications increase in Q2 2019: Kaspersky report

Researchers have detected 16,017 new ransomware modifications in the second quarter (Q2) of 2019 — including ones belonging to eight new malware families — which is more than double the number of new samples detected in Q2 2018 (7,620), Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky said on Thursday.

According to the “Kaspersky IT Threat Evolution Q2 2019” report, more than 230,000 users were attacked during the quarter.

“In this quarter we observed an increase in the number of new ransomware modifications, even though the Gandcrab family closed down in early June. The GandCrab ransomware family has long been one of the most popular cryptors amongst cybercriminals.