A new report from cybersecurity service provider Recorded Future finds that ransomware payments decreased by about 60 percent from 2021 to 2022, although ransomware attacks continued to plague organizations over that period.
The report attributed the decrease in payments to “increased guidance from governments to forgo making ransomware payments and increased due diligence on cybersecurity standards from insurance companies when underwriting policies for ransomware attacks.”
Despite that decrease, the report says that “ransomware will continue to pose a major threat to organizations throughout 2023.”
“Ransomware remained an ever-present threat in 2022,” the report says. “While certain ransomware gangs disbanded, others were quick to assert their dominance and used their significant resources to undertake campaigns against organizations of all sizes across industries.”
On other security fronts, Recorded Future found a 600 percent increase in the amount of credentials sold through “information stealing malware” between the first and fourth quarters of last year.
It also found “a significant year-over-year increase in targeting of software frequently used in organizations’ supply chains, and a shift toward an increasingly managed service model as ‘as-a-service’ offerings proliferated on dark web marketplaces and underground forums.”
Finally, the report finds that “Initial access brokers are increasingly active, likely due to the increased use of infostealer malware and the ability to monetize stolen data.”
