No More Ransom initiative marks its 6th anniversary

An initiative that was launched to help victims of ransomware has celebrated its six-year anniversary. No More Ransom which was launched to help victims decrypt their files has grown from four partners to 188 over the past six years and has contributed 136 decryption tools covering 165 ransomware families, helping more than 1.5 million people decrypt their devices all over the world.

The project, which is now available in 37 languages was launched collaboratively by the National High Tech Crime Unit of the Dutch National Police, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, Kaspersky and other partners.

Jornt van der Weil, security researcher at Kaspersky Global Research and Analysis Team said: “Ransomware is an effective way to get money from victims and remains one of the biggest cybersecurity concerns. In just the first three months of 2022, more than 74,000 unique users were found to have been exposed to this type of threat – and all these attacks were successfully detected."

"This has led to an increase in the tendency of helping these initiatives, and I’m extremely happy that we are able to assist people and companies in restoring their digital assets, without paying the attackers. This way we hit the criminals where it hurts - their business model - as users are no longer forced to pay to decrypt their data. We will keep on fighting ransomware with our existing and future partners.”

Ransomware locks valuable information on victims’ computers, stopping them from accessing it. Attackers also threaten to release important or private information unless they receive money.

No More Ransom’s website includes decryption tools, guidelines, and instructions on how to report cybercrime, regardless of where it happened to help people to get their data back without paying ransoms. The project also aims to spread information on how ransomware works and what measures can be taken to prevent infection.