Security News > 2024 > August > Record-breaking $75 million ransom paid to cybercrime group

Ransomware attacks have reached new heights of ambition and audacity over the past year, marked by a notable surge in extortion attacks, according to a Zscaler.

The findings from the report uncovered a record-breaking ransom payment of $75 million to the Dark Angels ransomware group, which is nearly double the highest publicly known ransomware payout, and an overall 18% increase in ransomware attacks year-over-year.

ThreatLabz believes Dark Angels' success will drive other ransomware groups to use similar tactics, placing a higher need for organizations to prioritize protection against rising and ever more costly ransomware attacks.

"This is an alarmingly high figure, and most organizations would never believe cybercrime could cost them so much or that they would ever be in a position where paying millions to an attacker is even a possibility. But that's the harsh reality of attacks today. Organizations can't operate when they lose their digital access, so when they are infected with ransomware, they are forced to make one of two decisions - pay the attackers and hope the issue is resolved or accept the data losses and rebuild everything from scratch," Ryan McConechy, CTO of Barrier Networks, told Help Net Security.

"Ransomware defense remains a top priority for CISOs in 2024. The increasing use of Ransomware-as-a-Service models, along with numerous zero-day attacks on legacy systems, a rise in vishing attacks, and the emergence of AI-powered attacks, has led to record breaking ransom payments," said Deepen Desai, Chief Security Officer at Zscaler.

High-volume data exfiltration ransomware attacks will be on the rise.

News URL

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2024/08/02/ransomware-extortion-attacks/