Covewarea company engaged in intelligence against cyber threats, presented a study that outlines the evolution of ransomware.
According to data presented by experts, this type of threat is increasingly less profitable for cybercriminals. Since 2019, in fact, it seems that the number of victims who pay, giving in to the requests of cyber criminals, is constantly decreasing. If four years ago approximately the 76% of victims surrendered to the ransom, this percentage decreased from year to year, dropping to 60% current.
Despite this, ransomware threats have increased in number and danger. New emerging groups, strong in the model Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS), have proliferated online in recent years. Groups like:
- LockBit
- Hive
- Cuba
- Royal
- The net
- BlackCat
constitute, by themselves, approximately the 75% of ransomware attacks globally. Despite this, there is a drastic change in the behavior of victims.
Ransomware in trouble, but it is forbidden to let your guard down
2022 was the turning point year: in the twelve months, in fact, for the first time there were more victims who did not pay the ransom than those who took their wallet to pay the cybercriminals. A trend that has strengthened in recent months, so much so that today the 60% of those affected by ransomware refuse to give in to hacker groups.
But why this change? Greater awareness is playing a fundamental role in this change. In fact, many victims now know well how to pay does not guarantee the return of stolen files.
In other cases, the best application of strategies related to backup, makes extortion attempts useless. In general, then, there is the fact that giving in to blackmail has now become a symptom of weakness for companies and this type of action damages their image in an even more accentuated manner.
Although ransomware is in slight trouble, this does not mean that it is possible to lower our guard: cybercriminals have already demonstrated a high ability to adapt and, therefore, it is good to expect new strategies in the immediate future.