Advice from Cyprus Police
26/07/2019 12:59:00
The ransomware cybercrime is one of the biggest problems faced in recent years by the law enforcement agencies
against electronic crime in the European area. Complaints about attacks on computers by organizations, companies,
and ordinary citizens amount to hundreds of thousands each year, yielding tentative profits of tens of millions of euros.
These are attacks against computers with a malicious software (or if you prefer a loathing) that prevents victims from
accessing their computer system by encrypting their files. In fact, with this software, criminals lock the files and the
computer system and ask their victims to pay for the ransom to unlock them.
The spread of malicious software is very easy, as it can be propagated by itself, through the internet and various
infected websites.
The enormous scale of this problem has mobilized the European prosecution authorities as well as private
companies to deal with it. Joining forces and efforts, the "No More Ransome" website (www.nomoreransom.org)
was created in July 2016 in order to inform the public about this online threat and to help the victims of the attacks ,
retrieve their data.
This site is an initiative of the High Tech Crime Unit, the Dutch Police, Europol's European Cyber Crime Center, and
two Kaspersky Lab and McAfee digital security services companies. Through it, users who are victims of such attacks
have the ability to know about the type of malicious software that infected their computer, and whether or not a
decryption tool is available to retrieve their files.
Today marks the 3rd anniversary of the creation of Nomorerensom, an initiative that has helped more than 200,000
victims of ransomware to regain their records free of charge. With over three million visitors from 188 countries,
this site is the first choice for ransomware cybercriminals. After the collaboration of more than 150 operators, the
criminal financial model behind the ransomware cyber attacks has received a serious blow since $ 108 million has
been prevented from reaching their hands.
With 14 new decryption tools in 2019, the site, also available in Greek, provides tools for decrypting files from
109 kinds of malware ransomware. Especially the effort against the GandCrab software, which is considered the
most aggressive of the past year, is seen as a success because since the release of the GandCrab software
decryption tool in February 2018, nearly 40,000 victims deciphered their files by preventing about $ 50 million to
end up with the criminals.
NomoreRansom is the first public-private partnership of its kind involving 42 law enforcement authorities, including the
Cyprus Police, 5 European Agencies and 101 public and private entities.
You can consult on what NomoreRansom offers and a true story about the initiative here:
http://www.europa.eu/euprotects/our-safety/cracking-code-how-eu-protects-our-computers- cybercriminals_en.
But the best solution to dealing with ransomware cyber attacks is careful prevention. Users are advised to:
• Keep backup data on a separate data storage medium.
• Use reliable and up-to-date antivirus programs
• Do not download files from suspicious sources
• Do not open attachment emails from unknown senders
• Keep backup data on a separate data storage medium.
• Use reliable and up-to-date antivirus programs
• Do not download files from suspicious sources
• Do not open attachment emails from unknown senders
Despite the important step achieved with the creation of the "No More Ransome" website and the constant upgrades
of what it offers, there is still a long way to fight this problem definitively. As mentioned on the website, "It is much
easier to avoid the threat than to fight when the system is affected." That's why every Internet user should be
informed and take the appropriate preventive measures. Each user should also be aware that in the event that he or
she falls victim to such a person, he should under no circumstances pay the ransom requested, as there are not a
few times that despite the payment of ransom, the people returned by asking More money. In such cases, the
user-victim should immediately inform the police, either by telephone or electronically via complaint platform for
cybercrime.
Complaint form re cybercrime: https://cybercrime.police.gov.cy/police/CyberCrime.nsf/subscribe_gr/subscribe_gr?OpenForm
