"Manufacturers Targeted as Ransomware Victim Numbers Spike 27%"

Security researchers at GuidePoint Security have discovered that the number of ransomware victims appearing on data leak sites surged by 27% year-on-year (YoY) in April to 354, with manufacturing the most impacted industry.  The researchers noted that the data was compiled from an analysis of 24 ransomware leak sites, so the real figure for victims could be many times greater, considering many victims choose to pay and, therefore, will not be featured on such sites.  However, on those analyzed sites, a fifth (19%) of victims were manufacturing companies.  The researchers stated that while victim volumes declined 22% between March and April this year, they increased 46% in the manufacturing sector.  LockBit was once again the most prolific group, accounting for 31% of victims on leak sites in April, followed by Alphv (14%).  Overall, however, the ransomware industry is increasingly characterized by a large number of smaller groups.  The researchers stated that they observed a diverse slate of active threat groups in April 2023, with 27 unique groups. 

Infosecurity reports: "Manufacturers Targeted as Ransomware Victim Numbers Spike 27%"