These figures were revealed by the computer security company Kaspersky during the seventh Latin American Summit of Security Analysts, which was held in Buenos Aires (Argentina) from 10 to 13 September.
According to Kaspersky, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia are the countries that have suffered the most cyber attacks so far in 2017, which includes attacks carried out while connected to the internet and while offline. In number of attacks Brazil represents 53% of the total, while Mexico ranked second with 17% and Colombia in third place, with 9%.
According to Fabio Assolini, an analyst with Kaspersky's Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT), although attacks such as ransomware (malicious software that restricts access to certain parts or files of the infected system and asks for a ransom in return) have been one of the vectors with the highest global incidences, as with the recent cases of WannaCry and NotPetya, offline attacks predominate in the region, which are mostly carried out using pirated software.
"They are the ones that are given by USB or DVD or any other infected disc. The most common way they are infected is through cracks, which are files that people use to pirate official software and not pay," Assolini told the media in Buenos Aires.
Of the offline attacks, 50% are related to piracy, 40% are malware (malicious programs) and the remaining 10% are related to other cases. "This is an indication that piracy is still a big problem in the region," said the analyst.
According to Assolini, offline attacks are identified by the letters LNK in the file and most come via an infected USB drive.
Another common attack vector in the region is phishing, which seeks to obtain personal and financial information by fraudulent means and is carried out via email with Java Script files.
"They are the main way to attack while you're surfing because Java Script is currently used for everything on the Internet," Assolini said.
In terms of mobile threats, Kaspersky recorded 931,000 malware detections in the first eight months of 2017. Again, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia led this category, with 31%, 29% and 7% of cases, respectively.
As for ransomware attacks in the region, they increased by up to 30% over the last year.
According to the computer security company, Brazil accounts for 54.9% of all attacks of this type detected in the area, followed by Mexico, with 23.4%, and Colombia, with 5% of the cases.
"From 2016 to date, half of the viruses detected in Latin America belong to the Trojan category, with Trojan-Ransom being the fastest growing," said Santiago Pontiroli, security analyst for Kaspersky in Latin America.
The attacks are mainly aimed at the health sector, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises, which between 2016 and 2017 have suffered data hijacking, "the threat with the greatest impact in Latin America," according to the specialist.
In mid-May, the world was confronted with WannaCry, the largest computer virus attack in history, targeting institutions and companies in more than 100 countries.
Although the profits of the perpetrators of the extensive attack were estimated at $100,000, the damage caused to the affected users far exceeded that figure, according to the Russian company.
In July 2016, the Dutch police, Europol, Intel Security and Kaspersky launched an online tool called No more ransom, to help unlock computers infected by different types of ransomware at no cost.
"Thanks to this non-profit initiative, more than 30,000 users globally have decrypted their devices and have been able to curb, in a way, this global threat," says Santiago Pontiroli. Source CNN.
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