Ransomware revenue plunged 40% last year as more victims refuse to pay, study finds
From Fox Business:
Hijacking a computer system and holding its access hostage just doesn’t pay like it used to.
At least that’s the takeaway from a report released Thursday from Chainalysis, which found that the revenue ransomware criminals extorted from victims dropped by a whopping 40.3% last year despite evidence that the number of attack attempts surged.
The amount that ransomware attackers extorted from victims in 2022 was at least $456 million, a marked decline from the $765 million such threat criminals raked in for 2021…
Brandon Pugh, policy director for R Street’s Cybersecurity and Emerging Threats team, told FOX Business another reason ransomware victims are hesitant to pay is that once they do, word could get out in the criminal community and increase the risk of a future attack.
But the obvious risk in paying is that there is no guarantee that the hijackers will actually follow through in releasing a victim’s data or systems after receiving their funds.
Pugh says malicious cyberactors “are not necessarily the most upstanding citizens people are dealing with…”
