Czechs will monitor international cybercrime

“The new team, which has been forming in the Prague research branch in recent months, will actively focus on cybercriminal activities and methods of conducting attacks, not only in the Czech Republic, but all over the world, because cyber threats do not respect national borders,” stated Jakub Souček, security an expert from the Prague research branch of Eset, who heads the new team.

The team will focus on crimeware, the term used by security experts to describe large-scale cyberattacks that are usually motivated by financial gain. “The gangs behind them are usually not sponsored by states,” Souček stated.

“In the field of crimeware, ransomware has long been the biggest threat – according to our data, it has grown by more than 50 percent in the last year, and it is certainly not a threat that is on the wane,” the security expert pointed out.

An alarming increase. Experts caught 50% more ransomware attacks

Safety

Ransoms have risen dramatically

Blackmail viruses from the ransomware family, which can block the entire computer and encrypt stored data, have long been among the most feared threats. Sophos experts recently warned that the requested ransom increased fivefold on average to two million dollars (46.5 million crowns) in 2024.

“In addition to ransomware, our sights also include the activities of organized groups that operate, for example, on bazaar platforms, even if they do not aim for such large profits as ransomware gangs,” Souček pointed out, adding that thanks to the obtained information about attackers, security experts will be able to warn themselves much earlier users, and not only in the Czech Republic.

Security specialists from Eset, in cooperation with the Police of the Czech Republic, uncovered the very background of fraud on internet bazaars in the Czech Republic in August of last year. The newly formed team should continue to cooperate with the defenders of the law.

“Junk gun” ransomware scares experts

Recently, cybercriminals have raised the danger of extortion viruses to a completely new level, using the so-called junk gun ransomware.

The term “junk gun” is used informally primarily in the US for a weapon that can be easily obtained and concealed. And it probably describes how the creators of extortion viruses work now. This is ransomware that can be purchased on the darknet for a fee by virtually anyone, even without in-depth technical experience, and can be used to attack any target.

Until now, the black market of the Internet offered only sophisticated ransomware viruses that anyone could rent for targeted attacks. Security experts often refer to this model as RaaS, i.e. ransomware as a service.

But that is changing with the “junk gun” ransomware. And security experts rightly point out that this is a much bigger problem for ordinary users than it might seem at first glance. “Instead of selling or buying ransomware as a service, attackers are creating and selling unsophisticated variants of ransomware for a one-time price – which other attackers sometimes see as an opportunity to target small and medium-sized businesses, and even individuals,” warned Christopher Budd, director of threat research at by Sophos.

According to him, the “junk gun” ransomware is being offered on the black Internet market for $375, i.e. roughly equivalent to less than nine thousand crowns. This is significantly less than RaaS suites, which often cost up to three times as much.