From Fox Business [1]:

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 [2] 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 [3] 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…”