Dutch police launch anti-ransomware site

The Dutch police and Europol teamed up with security companies Kaspersky Lab and Intel Security to launch a website intended to help people who fell victim to ransomware. The site contains tools to help victims remove ransomware from their computer and also provides information on the dangers of malicious software, NU.nl reports. Ransomware is a a form of malware that restricts access to infected computer systems and demands that a ransom be paid to the creators of the malware to remove the restriction. It generally encrypts all files it can reach. Those files can then only be accessed with a password, which the victim has to pay to receive. Intel and Kasperksy released 160 thousand decryption keys to help victims get rid of the malware. These keys will not work on all ransomware, but does cover a good number of them, including Coinvault, Bitcryptor and Shade. Ransomware is an increasingly popular tool for cyber-criminals. Between 2015 and 2016 the number of ransomware attacks worldwide increased by 550 percent from 131 thousand to 718 thousand. In the Netherlands it increased from 814 to 9,967.