According to BleepingComputer , the figure broke the previous record and reversed the decline of 2022, marking 2023 as a particularly strong money-making period for ransomware gangs.
The previous record was set in 2021 at $983 million, surpassing 2020’s record of $905 million, an increase of nearly 10%. But the rise of ransomware in 2023 confirms 2022 as a statistically unusual year, with activity affected by geopolitical events between Russia and Ukraine, as well as law enforcement taking down the Hive ransomware gang.
According to Chainalysis, the 2023 record could come from escalating attacks on large organizations and critical infrastructure, as well as Clop’s campaign targeting MOVEit, which impacted thousands of organizations worldwide. In July 2023, Chainalysis warned that ransomware payments were on track to break records based on activity and payments recorded at the time, a prediction that has so far been accurate.
2023 marks a favorable year for ransomware gangs
Among them, the most popular organizations in terms of ransoms received in 2023 were ALPHV/Blackcat, Clop, Play, LockBit, BlackBasta, Royal, Ransomhouse, and Dark Angels. These groups achieved high payment volumes thanks to different strategies, LockBit has a moderate payment size and frequency but a large total ransom flow, this is in contrast to Clop and Dark Angels because of large average payment size but lower payment frequency...
Ransomware groups are adapting to the decline in ransom payments by shifting tactics to targeting large corporations that can afford to pay large ransoms instead of many small businesses. Other groups are increasing the frequency of their attacks to compensate for the decline in victims paying ransoms.
Regarding ransom laundering, Chainalysis said payments were primarily funneled into mixing services, underground exchanges, spot exchanges, sanctioned entities, and platforms without know-your-customer (KYC) requirements.
Coveware recently reported a decline in victims choosing to surrender to ransomware and pay cybercriminals, but Chainalysis’ numbers suggest that this may not be enough to address the problem. The report also expects the trend of victims refusing to pay ransoms to persist and potentially increase in 2024, reaching a critical point where ransomware operations become financially unsustainable.
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