"Ransom Payments Surge by 500% to an Average of $2m"

According to security researchers at Sophos, average ransom payments surged by 500% in the past year to reach $2m per payment. This compares to an average payment of $400,000 calculated by Sophos in its 2023 study, demonstrating that ransomware operators are seeking increasingly large payoffs from victims. The researchers noted that nearly two-thirds (63%) of ransom demands made in the past year were $1m or more, with 30% of demands demanding over $5m. This is despite a reduction in the rate of organizations being hit by ransomware in the past year, at 59%. The researchers said that of those who received a seven-figure ransom demand in 2023, 46% had a revenue of less than $50m. Less than a quarter (24%) of respondents who paid a ransom demand handed over the amount initially requested by the attacker, with 44% reporting paying less than the original demand. On average, ransom payments sent were worth 94% of the initial ransom demand. During the study, the researchers also found that funding for ransom payments came from a variety of sources in 82% of cases. Overall, 40% of the funding for payments came from the victim organizations themselves, with the organization’s parent company and/or governing body typically providing 19%. Nearly a quarter (23%) of all ransom payment funding comes from insurance providers, with insurers contributing toward the ransom in 83% of cases. The researchers noted that large organizations were more likely to pay a ransom demand, with 61% of organizations with an annual revenue of $5bn+ paying attackers after being hit. This compares to 25% of organizations with a revenue of under $10m. Excluding ransom payments, the average cost of recovery from a ransomware attack was $2.73m, nearly $1m higher than the previous year, which was $1.82m. The recovery time also grew in 2023, with only 35% of ransomware victims fully recovered within a week. This compares to 47% of victims in 2022.

Infosecurity Magazine reports: "Ransom Payments Surge by 500% to an Average of $2m"