The financial impact of ransomware attacks is huge. Since the coronavirus pandemic set in full force, threat actors have been launching brutal ransomware attacks on businesses worldwide. 

Some statistics your way


Notable ransomware threats

  • The Zeppelin ransomware has re-emerged with a fresh vendetta against the healthcare and technology sectors. The attacks remained largely undetected by antivirus software and were being launched against high-profile targets.
  • Maze ransomware operators launched an attack against Fairfax County Public Schools. The threat actors released an archive of 2% of the stolen data.
  • The Fourth District Court of Louisiana was hit by a variant of the Conti ransomware. The cybercriminals have leaked some of the Court documents on their dark webpage. 

Where’s the wind blowing?

  • In most cases, the data of non-compliant victims are leaked by the ransomware operators. The threat actors are besieging data backups and leaking sensitive info of victims that refuse to pay.
  • The average ransom demand has almost doubled over the years and the trend is expected to continue.
  • Ransomware families have transformed the threat landscape by collaborating with each other. The Maze cartel has grown bigger over time with the addition of Ragnar Locker, LockBit, and others.
  • The weaponization of topical events is another trend that has been observed among ransomware operators. They have created ransomware variants with the name ‘coronavirus’

The bottom line

Ransomware is not going anywhere any time soon. The digital world has taken a big hit due to extortion attempts by ransomware operators in recent years. Thus, organizations are recommended to adopt a multi-layered defense against ransomware threats to proacticely counter it at various stages of an attack.

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Cyware