"Ransomware Still Winning: Average Ransom Demand Jumped by 45 Percent"

Group-IB has released its "Ransomware Uncovered 2021/2022" guide to the evolution of the number one threat. According to the findings of the second edition of the research, the ransomware empire's winning streak continued, with the average ransom demand increasing by 45 percent to $247,000 in 2021. Since 2020, ransomware gangs have gotten greedier. Hive demanded a record-breaking ransom of $240 million ($30 million in 2020). Hive and Grief rose to the top ten gangs based on the number of victims publicized on Dedicated Leak Sites (DLS). Ransomware has become more sophisticated, as evidenced by the victim's downtime, which climbed from 18 days in 2020 to 22 days in 2021. Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) programs began offering affiliates custom tools for data exfiltration in order to simplify and streamline operations. The double extortion tactic became even more common as sensitive victim data was exfiltrated to obtain the ransom in 63 percent of the cases examined. Ransomware groups posted data belonging to almost 3,500 victims on DLS during Q1'2021 and Q1'2022. The majority of enterprises whose data was released on DLS by ransomware operators in 2021 were based in the US, Canada, and the UK, with the manufacturing, real estate, and professional services industries being the most affected. The most aggressive gangs were Lockbit, Conti, and Pysa, with 670, 640, and 186 victims uploaded to DLS. This article continues to discuss key findings from Group-IB's recent ransomware report. 

Help Net Security reports "Ransomware Still Winning: Average Ransom Demand Jumped by 45 Percent"