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America Worst Affected Amid Global Rise in Cyber Attacks

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The world has seen a 74% increase in ransomware cyber attacks in the past year, with American entities being the worst affected, CNBC reports.

Ransomware is cryptovirological malware that permanently blocks access to the victim’s personal data, folders, or entire devices until a ransom is paid. In one particularly disruptive case, a ransomware attack in 2021 shut down America’s largest fuel pipeline, causing major delays in gas delivery.

In a May 2 address to the Senate Armed Services Committee about the global increase in cyber attacks, US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warned that ransomware attacks on critical American sectors such as healthcare have doubled since 2023, CNBC reports. UnitedHealth Group, for example, was targeted last year.

“Although the likelihood of any single attack having a widespread effect on interrupting critical services remains low, the increased number of attacks and the actors’ willingness to access and manipulate these control systems increases the collective odds that at least one could have a more significant impact,” Haines told the Committee.

Emphasizing the need to take preventive measures, Haines said, “So many of those attacks are basically possible as a consequence of just not engaging in good cybersecurity practices, not updating passwords, not, you know, doing the kind of work that needs to be done patching vulnerabilities.”