Security News > 2024 > January > Ransomware payment rates drop to new low – now 'only 29% of victims' fork over cash

The data from ransomware response and negotiation company Coveware continues a downward trend since it began monitoring in 2019, when it said the rate of companies choosing to pay ransomware actors was a whopping 85 percent.

Along with a decrease in overall ransomware payments, Coveware found that payments for data exfiltration-only incidents also hit an all-time low since it began tracking them in 2022.

Further proof a ransomware payment ban is a bad move.

Coveware's takeaway is that the world is making progress in dealing with ransomware that a payment ban would completely undo.

The report cites a Florida ban on ransomware payments that took effect on July 1, 2022, noting that "We have not yet seen a decline in attacks inside states" that have enacted a payment ban, like North Carolina.

Enact a payment ban, and compliance with reporting rules may decrease as companies make payments through offshore accounts and "Re-order the flow of money through a new illegal market of service providers."

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/01/31/ransomware_payment_rates_drop/