Ransomware is Back…Did it ever leave?

Cyberattacks are the fastest growing crime in the U.S., and they are increasing in size, sophistication and cost.

The impact on society is reflected in the numbers. Cybersecurity Ventures predicted that cybercrime will cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021, up from $3 trillion in 2015. This risks the incentives for innovation and investment, and will be more profitable than the global trade of all major illegal drugs combined.

Ransomware ebbs and flows in the media, with other stories sometimes drowning out the reporting of major attacks and at other times, like the last few months, ransomware attacks are all over the headlines. Despite the inconsistent media coverage, ransomware and cybercrime have been growing consistently, and at times exponentially, for years.

The trend is continuing in 2021, with publicized attacks up year over year every month so far in 2021.

Not only are the number of attacks up, but the cost of attacks are increasing as well. Coveware, an incident response firm, has compiled a report of ransomware incident response trends during Q1 of 2021, finding that the average ransom payment has reached $220,298, which is an increase of 43% when compared with that of just the previous quarter in Q4 2020.

Attackers don’t discriminate, going after any company, individual or organization regardless of size or industry.

Many have heard of the Colonial Pipeline attack or the attack on the JBS Meat Packing Company, but the majority of attacks (62%) still affect small and medium businesses.

One common theme is that cybercriminals will go after the “low-hanging fruit”, prioritizing easy exploitations from outdated and unpatched software and phishing campaigns.