Understanding The Ransomware Explosion 05/17/21 AT 8:01 AM Anybody who hasn’t been living under a rock knows that ransomware attacks are not rare. Recently, the May 6th ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, a major fuel pipeline operator in the U.S., became the latest in a seemingly endless stream of cyber attack news stories. The fact that ransomware attacks are pervasive is not surprising, but what is alarming is that these insidious threats increased sevenfold in the second half of 2020 alone, according to Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs threat research. In addition, ransomware continues to evolve rapidly and new variants are constantly being discovered, meaning security strategies must also evolve to be able to handle new types of attacks.