Number of attacks increasing
VPN software provider Atlas VPN has released a report on the most significant ransomware statistics from the past year.
The report showed more evidence confirming two trends we have been reporting on. Ransomware attacks are increasing; the number of attacks doubled since 2021 to almost 600 million. The second trend showed that exfiltration or the theft of data has become as important, or perhaps more important. Over 30 terabytes of data was stolen by ransomware cyber criminals.
This is consistent with other data that we have reported on in past installments of This Week In Ransomware. We have previously reported stats from HPE’s Unit 42 showing the average ransomware demand increased by 144 per cent, and that there had been an 85 per cent increase in the number of victims that had data posted on so-called “leak sites.”
The Atlas VPN report also confirmed a chilling stat, that “over 70 per cent of organizations had suffered two or more attacks in the past 12 months.”
This number raises some important questions. We’d like to see how many of those who experienced more than one attack had actually paid the ransom. Does paying a ransom encourage attackers? Is it just that attackers leave “back doors” or other remnants than make a second attack? Or does the publication of an attack make the company a target for other groups? The answers to these questions will affect strategies dealing with and hopefully preventing attacks.
To see the full report, please click here.
The number of ransomware variants is increasing
FortiGuard Labs, part of security company Fortinet, has released its semi-annual increase ransomware attacks number variants attack surface itself ransomware sunday august
