Security News > 2023 > July > Ransomware payments on record-breaking trajectory for 2023
Data from the first half of the year indicates that ransomware activity is on track to break previous records, seeing a rise in the number of payments, both big and small.
"In fact, ransomware attackers are on pace for their second-biggest year ever, having extorted at least $449.1 million through June.".
As shown in the below graph by Chainalysis, the cumulative yearly ransomware revenue for 2023 has reached 90% of the 2022 total figure in the first half of the year.
If the revenue growth pace is maintained at that level, ransomware actors will make just short of $900 million from victims in 2023, just below 2021's record figure of $940 million.
This is reflected on the ransom payments distribution graph, which for H1 2023 shows an unprecedented increase on the right side, corresponding to large payments.
The growth trend for H1 2023 is also observed on the other end of the spectrum, with small ransomware payments made to opportunistic "Spray and pray" ransomware-as-a-service operations such as Dharma, Phobos, and STOP/DJVU, who blackmail victims for a few hundred USD. Experts in the field hypothesize that with the yearly decrease in organizations willing to pay a ransom, threat actors could strategically elevate their ransom demands, aiming to compensate for their losses through substantial payments from the few that give in to demands.