10 CYBER CRIME & CYBER SECURITY TRENDS IN AFRICA Cyber Crime: Ransomware Increased 35 Percent in 2015 Cyber criminals are using encryption as a weapon to hold companies’, governments and individuals’ critical data hostage The underground economy is booming and cyber crime is growing fast across the globe and Africa is no exception. Africa could be viewed as a permissive environment for cyber criminals due to a lack of security capabilities, absence of relevant legislation and general lack of awareness of cyber security measures. Cyber criminals are more professional and are much bolder, not only in the targets they choose to go after, but also the sums of money they seek. These criminal enterprises are for all intents and purposes, look like fully-functioning businesses, covering a multitude of areas, each with their own speciality. Just as legitimate businesses have partners, associates, resellers, and vendors, so do those enterprises operating in the shadows. While blackmarket prices for email addresses have dropped in recent years, credit card prices have remained relatively low but stable.13 However, if they come with ‘luxury’ data – verification that the seller’s accounts are still active or that a credit card has not yet been blocked – they now fetch a premium price. At the other end of the market, a drive-by download toolkit, which includes updates and 24x7 support, can be rented for between US$100 and US$700 per week, while distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks can be ordered from US$10 to US$1,000 per day. At the top of the market, a zero-day vulnerability can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. And while there have been a number of high-profile cyber crime arrests made by law enforcement over the last year, cyber criminals continue to evolve and diversify their arsenal. Ransomware has become increasingly dominant in recent times and continues to evolve. Last year, we saw Crypto-ransomware (encrypting files) push the less damaging locker-style ransomware (locking the computer screen) out of the picture. Crypto-style ransomware grew 35 percent last year. An extremely profitable type of attack, ransomware will continue to ensnare PC users and expand to any network-connected device that can be held hostage for a profit. In 2015, ransomware found new targets and moved beyond its focus on PCs to smart phones, Mac, and Linux systems. Symantec even demonstrated proof-ofconcept attacks against smart watches and televisions in 2015.14 Never before have people across the world been subjected to extortion on such a massive scale as they are today. But why are criminals favoring ransomware, especially crypto-ransomware? With the glut of stolen information on the black market and the introduction of the more secure EMV standard (chip-and-pin) 13 14 https://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/underground-black-market-thrivingtrade-stolen-data-malware-and-attack-services https://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/how-my-tv-got-infectedransomware-and-what-you-can-learn-it payment cards for card payments, the potential profit criminals can gain by exploiting stolen credit card details has reduced. Moreover, credit card fraud involves several people to conduct, and consumer legislation ensures the victim’s financial loss is minimized. In contrast, an attacker can obtain a ransomware tool-kit from an underground source, and target their intended victims, who may have few alternatives but to pay-up. There are no middlemen for the criminal to pay and nothing to mitigate the losses to the victim, thus maximizing the profits. Growing Dominance of Crypto-Ransomware, Global TT    Percentage of new families of misleading apps, fake security software (Fake AV), locker ransomware and crypto ransomware identified between 2005 and 2015. Misleading Apps FakeAV Lockers Crypto-Ransomware 100% 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 ’05 ’06 ’07 ’08 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13 ’14 ’15 Overall, 67% of South Africans have experienced some form of online crime — compared to 48% globally. Norton Cyber Security Insights Report 2016