Category Archives: ransomware gang

Ransomware payouts hit all-time high, but that’s not the whole story

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Ransomware payments hit an all-time high of $1.1 billion in 2023, following a steep drop in total payouts in 2022. Some factors that may have contributed to the decline in 2022 were the Ukraine conflict, fewer victims paying ransoms and cyber group takedowns by legal authorities. In 2023, however, ransomware payouts came roaring back to […]

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The Trickbot/Conti Crypters: Where Are They Now?

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Despite Conti shutdown, operators remain active and collaborative in new factions In IBM Security X-Force, we have been following the crypters used by the Trickbot/Conti syndicate, who we refer to as ITG23, since 2021 and demonstrated the intelligence that can be revealed through tracking their use in a blog we published last May. One year […]

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Triple Extortion and Erased Data are the New Ransomware Norm

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The old days of “honest” ransomware gangs are long gone. In the past, ransomware groups pressured each other to honor file decryption promises after the ransom was paid. However, their motives were far from altruistic. They thought victims would be less willing to pay if word got out that their files would never be recovered. […]

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How Falling Crypto Prices Impacted Cyber Crime

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Some rare good news in the world of cyber crime trends: Certain crimes declined in 2022 after years of constant rises. Should we credit crypto? Some estimates say that cryptocurrencies have lost $2 trillion in value since November 2021. During that time, the costs associated with cyber crimes, such as ransomware payouts and financial scams, […]

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The Most Prolific Ransomware Gangs of 2022

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As we look forward to 2023, we can find many ransomware lessons in looking back at 2022. The year brought us numerous attacks by many of the same gangs we’ve watched for years, as well as some newcomers. Many ransomware gangs operate like businesses, with their own marketing departments and user documentation. With the advent […]

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Cybersecurity Trends: IBM’s Predictions for 2023

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As with many other aspects of life and business, 2022 held fewer overall surprises in cybersecurity than in recent years — thank goodness. Instead, many trends brewing over the past few years began to take clearer form. Some were unexpected, and many were predictable, but all are important to consider when making plans for security […]

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How the US Government is Fighting Back Against Ransomware

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As ransomware-related payments surged toward $600 million in the first half of 2021, the U.S. government knew it needed to do more to fight back against cyber criminals. For many years, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had a Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List for people or organizations acting […]

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Why Do Ransomware Gangs Keep Coming Back From the Dead?

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Ransomware gangs are major players in the cybersecurity space, especially in recent years. ZDNet reported that ransomware gangs increased their payments by over 311% from 2019 to 2020, with totals for all groups exceeding $350 million in 2020. Ransoms continued rising in 2021. Unit 42, a threat research team at Palo Alto Networks, found that […]

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Unprecedented Shift: The Trickbot Group is Systematically Attacking Ukraine

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Following ongoing research our team, IBM Security X-Force has uncovered evidence indicating that the Russia-based cybercriminal syndicate “Trickbot group” has been systematically attacking Ukraine since the Russian invasion — an unprecedented shift as the group had not previously targeted Ukraine. Between mid-April and mid-June of 2022 the Trickbot group, tracked by X-Force as ITG23 and […]

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Countdown to Ransomware: Analysis of Ransomware Attack Timelines

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This research was made possible through the data collection efforts of Maleesha Perera, Joffrin Alexander, and Alana Quinones Garcia. Key Highlights The average duration of an enterprise ransomware attack reduced 94.34% between 2019 and 2021:  2019: 2+ months — The TrickBot (initial access) to Ryuk (deployment) attack path resulted in a 90% increase in ransomware […]

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