Karshi branch of tashkent university of information technologies named after mukhammad al-khorezmi

2. Ransomware 
Ransomware is another critical cyber risk to financial sectors. During a ransomware 
attack, cybercriminals lock victims out of their computers by encrypting them with 
malware. The damage is only reversed if a ransom is paid. 
Ransomware attackers use multiple extortions to pressure victims into paying a 
ransom. The most popular being publishing greater portions of seized sensitive 
information on criminal forums until a ransom is paid. 

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Such extortion tactics are, unfortunately, very effective against financial institutions 
because their heavy regulations expect exemplary cyberattack and data breach 
resilience. 
With ransomware attacks nowadays evolving into data breach territory, a successful 
attack could have wider implications on regulatory compliance standards. 
Ransomware Statistics in the Financial Industry 
Paying a ransom could double remediation costs 
The financial sectors industry is a very attractive target to ransomware gangs because 
of the valuable customer information they possess. The threat of leaking this 
information on the dark web, and the resulting reputational damage, compels many 
financial services organizations to comply with ransom demands. 
Despite increasing pressure to do so among the stress of a ransomware attack, 
the FBI strongly advises businesses to never pay ransoms. 
Following the FBI's advice could result in lower damage costs, even if threat actors 
compromise the seized data. According to the State of Ransomware 2020 report by 
Sophos, remediation costs double when a ransom is paid. 
Ransomware attacks increased 9x between February and April 2020. 
In 2020, in the space of only 3 months - from the beginning of February to the end 
of April 2020 - ransomware attacks against the financial sector increased by ninefold. 
Ransomware attacks increased by 520% between March and June of 2020 
From March to June 2020, phishing and ransomware attacks targeting 
banks increased by 520% compared to the same period in 2019. 
A significant spike in ransomware attacks was observed in 2020 and the trend 
continues to climb upwards in 2021. 
Ransomware attacks increased by 151% in the first 6 months of 2021 
Atlas VPN, a New York-based VPN service provider observed a 151% increase in 
ransomware attacks in the first half of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020. 

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Picture 1.4. Ransomware attack growth by quarter across the world 
This information reveals the expanding threat of ransomware across all sectors, not 
just financial services firms. 
3. SQL Injections, Local File Inclusion, Cross-Site Scripting, and OGNL Java Injections 
According to the annual security report by Akamai, 94% of observed cyberattacks 
in the financial sector were facilitated by the following four attack vectors: 
• 
SQL Injections (SQLi) 
• 
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) 
• 
Local File Inclusion (LFI) 
• 
OGNL Java Injection 
• 
Vulnerability Discoveries Impacting the Financial Industry 
• 
In March 2021, a vulnerability was discovered in a WordPress plugin that 
facilitated Time-Based Blind SQL injections. 600,000 users could have potentially been 
impacted. 
• 
In April 2021, Trend Micro discovered an XSS vulnerability impacting e-
commerce websites. 

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• 
In August 2021, a Local File Inclusion (LFI) vulnerability was discovered for a 
version of BIQS - software used by driving schools for invoicing. 
• 
In August 2021, an OGNL vulnerability was discovered that allowed threat actors 
to inject arbitrary code on Atlassian Confluence servers.