Victims of ransomware crypto payments spent nearly $602 million to pay off their attackers last year according to a new report from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. The real number, however, is likely to be much higher as Chainalysis continues to identify ransomware-associated wallets. 2021 had the highest amount of active ransomware attacks than any other year on records. In fact, the average ransomware payments last year recorded $118,000, or 34% higher than the 2020 average while in 2019, the average ransomware payment was only $25,000. The number of active strains in 2021 also rose to 140 which is up from 119 in 2020, and just 79 in 2019. The growing number of ransomware groups can be attributed to the growing sophistication of third-party tools. For instance, in 2021, ransomware operators used proxy services, email attacks, stolen data such as passwords and IDs, and malware programs more than ever. In fact, these attackers spent upto 16% on tools and services to enable more effective attacks, up from 6% in 2020. The top three largest ransomware payments last year involved Conti, DarkSide and Phoenix Cryptolocker. In fact, Russia-based Conti used the ransomware-as-a-service model (RaaS) to extort over $180 million from their victims. On the other hand, DarkSide is notable for the infamous attack on the U.S. Colonial Pipeline that resulted in fuel shortages to some areas. At the time, the company was forced to pay out ...
