Security News > 2022 > August > Ransomware gangs are hitting roadblocks, but aren’t stopping (yet)

Ransomware attacks are in decline, according to reports by several cybersecurity companies.

Two US states recently prohibited state agencies, counties and minicipalities from paying a ransom in response to a ransomware incident.

"Ransomware victims in the study that opted to pay threat actors' ransom demands saw only $610,000 less in average breach costs compared to those that chose not to pay - not including the cost of the ransom. Factoring in the high cost of ransom payments, the financial toll may rise even higher, suggesting that simply paying the ransom may not be an effective strategy," the analysts noted.

Even the average days of downtime following a ransomware attack has decreased by 8% from Q1 2022, Coveware says, likely due to the higher prevalence of attacks that only involved data exfiltration.

"As long as there's a financial incentive, there will still be ransomware. And while the number of targets paying ransoms may be falling, ransom amounts are still rising dramatically. These ventures are currently so lucrative that, according to , ransomware gangs are now able to buy zero-day exploits and bankroll research into vulnerabilities that they can then exploit," they noted.

With such great sums at their disposal and the whole world in turmoil, ransomware gangs can afford to diversify and improve their tactics and approaches to continue to milk this cash cow for years to come.

News URL

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/08/01/ransomware-gangs-are-hitting-roadblocks/