01/09/2017

Highlights in G DATA’s Blog – A short review of 2016

G DATA started its blogs six years ago and the team has published numerous articles about IT security, malware, mobile device security, awareness and also the Internet of Things since then. It is time for us to take a look back at the Top 10 most read articles in 2016 – both in the German and the English G DATA Blog.

Ransomware was the hottest topic

The majority of articles, looking at both languages, can be associated with this category. Locky appeared in early 2016 and marked the start of a new wave for this kind of malware. Private users and also enterprises were and are facing a serious threats. As a result of continuous analyses and intense research work, G DATA integrated a new solution into their consumer products: G DATA Anti-Ransomware technology.

Screenshot of a Petya ransomware lockscreen — Ransomware Petya verschlüsselt die Festplatte

Screenshot of G DATA's software catching Locky in the act — Verschlüsselungs-Trojaner Locky: Das sollten Sie jetzt wissen

Screenshot of code analysis of ransomware Petya — Ransomware Petya - ein technischer Überblick

Screenshot: Part of a lockscreen the ransomware Manamecrypt uses — Manamecrypt – eine Ransomware geht neue Wege

Screenshot of an encrypted Locky DLL — Neue Locky-Version ändert die Dateiendung auf *.ODIN

Malware is and won’t be no child’s play

Furthermore, our readers were interested in threats connected to computer games and apps. Pokémon Go was one major topic of the last twelve months – either because of organizational problems in real life caused by groups of players blocking bridges, public squares and private properties or because of the inherent dangers.

Screenshot of Poké balls found on G DATA's campus — Pokémon Go: Schnapp sie Dir alle – aber bitte nicht um jeden Preis

Screenshot of the script that can harm World of Warcraft gamers — World of Warcraft: Eine einfache Code-Zeile kann den Spieler teuer zu stehen kommen

The sunglasses conspiracy

Our German speaking readers did not want to be blinded by fake offers sent in spam mails and social networks. The comprehensive report about the topic of counterfeit products was posted in May and is now part of 2016’s Top 10.

Photo of a pair of genuine Rayban sunglasses — Sonnenbrillen-Spam: 85% Rabatt?Das ist doch 100% Fake!

Oldie but Goldie – the classics

Among the most popular articles in 2016 we can also find some older fellas which have not lost any of their relevance over time. Potentially unwanted programs are really annoying – at that time like today. We can still see this trend in our monthly updated G DATA MII Statistics. Furthermore, a banking Trojan family was among the most popular entries: Dridex. It appeared in late 2014 and the article about the comeback king can be found among the most read German articles.