Security News > 2022 > May > Ransomware still winning: Average ransom demand jumped by 45%

The findings of the second edition of the report indicate that the ransomware empire kept its winning streak going with the average ransom demand growing by 45% to reach $247,000 in 2021.

In addition to the analysis of more than 700 attacks investigated, the report also examines ransomware DLS. Human-operated ransomware attacks have maintained the global cyber threat landscape lead by solid margins over the last three years.

Between the Q1'2021 and Q1'2022, ransomware gangs posted data belonging to more than 3,500 victims on DLS. Most companies whose data was posted on DLS by ransomware operators in 2021 were based in the United States, Canada, and the UK, while most organizations affected belonged to the manufacturing, real estate and professional service industries.

In 2021 the attribution of ransomware attacks became increasingly complicated since many bots such as Emotet, Qakbot, and IcedID were being used by various threat actors, unlike in 2020, when certain commodity malware families had strong affiliation with specific ransomware gangs.

In general, many ransomware affiliates relied on living-off-the-land techniques and legitimate tools during the attack lifecycle.

Some ransomware gangs were seen trying very unconventional approaches: REvil affiliates leveraged zero-day vulnerabilities to attack Kaseya's clients.

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https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/23/average-ransom-demand/