According to data provided by Symantec, the volume of infections with extortion software for this year may exceed the figures of 2016. The giant in the field of cybersecurity said that in the first half of the year 319 000 cases of infection.

If the trend does not change by the end of the year, it will be possible to talk about an increase in the number of infections almost twofold. According to Symantec data for 2016, the company registered at least 470 000 cases of malware infection.

The number of infected users increased significantly during outbreaks of the extortion software WannaCry and NotPetya in May and June, respectively. Experts on cybersecurity fear that other extortionists will try to reproduce their tactics of infection.

Although WannaCry and NotPetya also had the ability to spread over the Internet to other vulnerable computers, primarily their purpose was precisely the organization, since most home Internet routers would block attempts to infect the EternalBlue exploit.

According to Symantec, in 2015 and 2016, enterprises accounted for about 29-30% of infections, compared with 42% in the first half of 2017. The average repurchase amount also increased, from $ 294 to $ 1,077.