Victims are resisting paying ransoms, which has resulted in a 40% decline in revenue for cybercrime groups.

Ransomware gangs demanded at least $457 million (£370 million) from victims in 2022, according to cryptocurrency analysts at Chainalysis – $311 million less than the previous year. The actual numbers are probably higher, but experts concur that there are fewer victims making payments.

The number of assaults is increasing, despite the decline in illicit earnings. Hackers using ransomware often target businesses, governments, educational institutions, hospitals, and even more, locking off workers until a ransom is paid, typically in Bitcoin.

Soumil/Pexels | Threats by hackers to sell or publish stolen data are common

The Guardian newspaper, Royal Mail, and Sick Kids Canadian Children’s Hospital are a few recent high-profile victims.
Although Russian authorities deny their nation is a refuge for the gangs, it is believed that many ransomware teams are located there.

Attacks Are Increasing

Despite the decline in income, 2022 saw a sharp rise in the number of distinct ransomware variants purportedly employed in assaults.
During the first quarter of 2022, there were more than 10,000 different forms of harmful software active, according to research from the cyber-security company Fortinet. Attacks increased last year, perhaps as a result of enforcement operations, mostly by US authorities, which led to the dissolution of some of the biggest ransomware organizations.

In a worldwide police investigation in November 2021, suspected members of the REvil gang were detained, and in a so-called “recoup” hacking operation, US authorities were able to recover more than $6 million in cryptocurrencies.

It came after a similar US operation in June 2021 that brought down the Darkside gang and recovered $4.1 million in stolen money.

Tima/Pexels | These tactics are believed to have weakened gang confidence and may have driven criminals to operate in smaller groupings

The amount of smaller assaults by criminals seems to be increasing rather than targeting major Western targets, or “big-game hunting,” where substantial payouts are more possible. Big-game hunting may have become more difficult, but it is still gratifying, according to Jackie Burns Koven, Chainalysis’ chief of cyber-threat intelligence. She issues a warning that ransomware is still very lucrative and that smaller businesses should be even more watchful as hackers widen their net in an attempt to be paid.

Keeping Track of Bitcoin Wallets

Chainalysis analysts keep tabs on the money entering and leaving Bitcoin wallets that are known to be used by ransomware groups.
Because hackers are likely to utilize other wallets as well, researchers claim that the illegal profits will be substantially larger than those they can now observe. However, the business claims that a definite pattern exists: payments for ransomware are drastically down. Coveware’s Bill Siegel, who specializes in dealing with hackers, concurs. His customer’s reluctance to cave into hackers, who might demand millions of dollars, is growing. According to him, 41% of his customers paid ransoms in 2022 as opposed to 70% in 2020.

Although paying ransoms to hackers has not been deemed illegal by any country, Mr. Siegel and other cyber-experts believe that US sanctions on hacker groups and those linked to Russia’s Federal Security Service have made fulfilling certain groups’ demands problematic from a legal standpoint.

If there is even the slightest suggestion of a link to a sanctioned body, Mr. Seigel stated, “We refuse to pay ransoms.”
There may be more variables at work, such as a rise in ransomware knowledge that improves cyber security inside organizations.

Karolina/Pexels | Ransomware assaults are becoming more difficult for hackers to profit from

Businesses are now more adept at safeguarding their backups, which lowers the need for them to pay hackers for data recovery, he said.
Additionally, since ransomware assaults are now so widespread, businesses are less likely to suffer a PR catastrophe, which makes them less willing to pay to keep occurrences under wraps and out of the headlines.