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Europol, Intel and Kaspersky team up to crack down on ransomware

Paying those who take your data hostage only makes the ransomware problem worse, says Kaspersky.

Katie Collins Senior European Correspondent
Katie a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET's Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a "living synth" by London's Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.
Katie Collins
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Victim of ransomware? Europol wants to help you get your data back.

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The European Police Agency Europol on Monday announced a collaboration with tech giant Intel, security expert Kaspersky Lab and the Netherlands police to tackle the exponential growth of ransomware use by criminals.

Together, the companies and agencies launched an online portal called No More Ransom to help inform the public about the dangers of ransomware and help victims recover their data without having to fork over money to criminals.

Ransomware steals and holds user data hostage, forcing individuals and companies to pay criminals in order to regain control of that data. Kaspersky research shows that the number of ransomware attacks increased more than fivefold between 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, from 131,111 to 718,536.

By coughing up on demand, victims of ransomware boost the underground economy, which in turn boosts the number of criminals and number of attacks, said Jornt van der Wiel, security researcher at Kaspersky. "We can only change the situation if we coordinate our efforts to fight against ransomware," he said.

"We expect to help many people to recover control over their files, while raising awareness and educating the population on how to maintain their devices clean from malware," added Wil van Gemert, Europol's deputy director of operations.