“For years now, the cybersecurity landscape seemed hurtling towards a so-called ransomware apocalypse, so this sharp decline, to levels even lower than those in 2020 and 2021 speaks to the effectiveness of law enforcement actions, improved international collaboration, and a growing refusal by victims to cave into attackers demands,” she said.
In further evidence of victims refusing to meet attackers’ demands, in the second half of last year sums demanded by cyber gangs were 53% higher than the actual payouts – despite an increase in the number of ransomware attacks.
Ransomware payments fell by more than a third last year to $813m (£650m) as victims refused to pay cybercriminals and law enforcement cracked down on gangs, figures reveal.
Ransomware payments last year fell from a record $1.25bn in 2023, said the research firm Chainalysis, which published the payment data on Wednesday.
One expert said a coordinated international operation in February last year to take down a leading ransomware gang, LockBit, appeared to have had an effect as well as the disappearance of another cybercrime outfit called BlackCat/ALPHV.
