Average ransomware payments spike by 43% in 2021: 12 things to know

The average ransomware payment increased 43 percent to $220,000 in 2021, according to an April 26 report by Coveware.

Twelve things you should know:

  1. The healthcare industry makes up 11.6 percent of industries targeted by ransomware attacks in 2021.

  2. The median ransom payment increased 59 percent from the fourth quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021 to $78,398.

  3. The average ransom payment increased 43 percent from the fourth quarter of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021 to $220,298.

  4. Seventy-seven percent of ransomware attacks involved the threat to leak stolen data, a 10 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2020.

  5. The most common types of ransomware are Sodinokibi, which controls 14.2 percent of the market share, followed by Conti V2 (10.2 percent) and Lockbit (7.5 percent).

  6. Netwalker used to be a top threat actor, but has ceased activities following a law enforcement takedown of infrastructure and the arrest of its cybergang.

  7. For Sodinokibi, Lockbit and BlackKingdom, flawed execution led to a total data loss for the cybercriminals in their extortion attempts.

  8. Conti and Lockbit have both been re-attacking prior victims with new extortion demands.

  9. Over hundreds of cases examined, Coveware has yet to encounter an example where paying a cybercriminal the ransom has helped the victim mitigate liability or avoid damaging the business or brand.

  10. Despite an increase in demands and higher prevalence of data theft, a growing number of victims are not paying ransoms.

  11. Victims should assume that data will not be destroyed, instead it will be traded to other cybercriminals, sold, misplaced or held for a future extortion attempt.

  12. Even when cyberterrorists delete data after receiving a payment, other parties may have copies to follow-up on a future ransomware attempt.
 

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