Ransomware Is ‘Surging,’ With Record-Breaking $75 million Payment

Ransomware attacks increased 18% last year, despite numerous law enforcement operations, arrests and criminal sanctions, according to new research from Zscaler.

The key takeaways: A $75 million USD ransomware payment is the largest one ever recorded.

• There was an 18%-year-over-year rise in ransomware
• Manufacturing, healthcare, and technology are the industries that are most at risk.
• The USA alone accounts for nearly 50% of all ransomware attacks, followed by the UK.
• Voice-based phishing (including CEO impersonation) is becoming a significant tactic used by ransomware threat actors. 

Behind the headlines: 18% is a big increase, but we might have expected to see a larger number, with over $1 billion USD paid to ransomware gangs in 2023 alone, Emily Laufer, Zscaler’s Director Product Marketing tells Expert Insights. This is likely because attackers are becoming more targeted and making as much money as possible from the most lucrative targets. 

• “This year we only saw an 18% increase, which I thought was really interesting. I expected a bigger number. The money is going up, but the increase in attacks is not going up as much. Which means they’re being more successful,” Laufer says.
  
• “You don’t need to launch as many attacks when you can get bigger fish, when you can get bigger payouts with the ones that you’re already working on.”

Addressing the threat: Law enforcement remains the most effective way to reduce the number of attacks, says Brett Stone-Taylor, Snr Director Threat Intelligence at Zscaler, but not all law enforcement operations are equal. 

• “Some have no effect or limited effect, and some have actually quite a significant effect. Because, at the end of the day, this is a human problem. It’s not a technology problem. I think we’re likely to see in the next few months and years more of these law enforcement operations.”
  
• “It’s also particularly difficult because of current international relations with, you know, some of the countries where these threat actors are located. You can probably guess where they are. They can’t always get their hands on people.”

Get protected: Basic IT hygiene and user awareness training is a good starting point for protecting your business against ransomware attack. But there are lots of solutions to consider, Stone-Taylor explains. 

• “Employ two-factor authentication, require strong passwords that you rotate, maintain offline backups. Monitoring network traffic is incredibly important from a number of perspectives. Utilize endpoint solutions and make sure your software is up to date. And use a zero-trust architecture to make sure that when someone authenticates, you’re connecting them to an application, not the network.”