93 per cent of all phishing emails now contain ransomware, claims report

And a 789 per cent rise in phishing emails shakes mailboxes

Ninety-three per cent of all phishing emails now contain encryption ransomware - a figure that has almost doubled since December 2015.

This is according to a report by security company PhishMe, which also claimed that 6.3 million phishing emails were sent during the first three months of 2016, representing a colossal 789 per cent rise over the same period in 2015.

PhishMe identified three "key trends" that, while recorded in 2015, have "come to full fruition" during 2016.

These not only include encrypted ransomware - as mentioned - but also "soft targeting by functional area", as well as the "one-two combination" of downloaders and ransomwares working in tandem.

"Thus far in 2016, we have recorded an unprecedented rise in encryption ransomware attacks, and we see no signs of this trend abating," said Rohyt Belani, CEO and co-founder of PhishMe.

"Individuals, small- and medium-sized businesses, hospitals, and global enterprises are all faced with the reality that this is now one of the most favoured cyber criminal enterprises," he added.

Explaining the key trends more fully, Belani suggested: "In contrast to both broad distribution and the careful targeting of one or two individuals via spear phishing emails, soft targeting focuses on a category of individuals based on their role within any organization anywhere in the world.

"Criminals target this subset with content relevant to their role. Such malicious emails are typically accompanied with Microsoft Office documents laden with malware or the ability to download the same."

Belani also observed that JavaScript downloaders are becoming the method of choice for malware delivery.

Computing reported yesterday that ransomware domain creation has apparently increased by 3,500 per cent in the past year.

"During the first quarter, JavaScript applications even surpassed Office documents with macro scripts to become the most common malicious file type accompanying phishing emails. JS.Dropper [malicious JavaScript-based code] applications were present in nearly one third of all phishing email analyses performed by PhishMe," Belani said.