2024 broke records for ransomware attacks

Ransomware attacks reached record levels throughout 2024 according to the latest State of Ransomware report from BlackFog.

LockBit, one of the most prominent ransomware gangs in recent years, remained the most active ransomware variant through 2024 affecting 603 victims. May was the busiest month, with nearly 200 attacks launched, accounting for 36 percent of all attacks that month.

RansomHub was in second place, affecting 586 victims, despite only appearing on the scene in February 2024. In fact there was a huge increase in new variants compared with 2023, across the year, 48 new groups emerged, a 65 percent increase from the number of new variants from the previous year.  

In terms of disclosed attacks, healthcare, government, and education accounted for 47 percent of all 2024's ransomware news headlines. Healthcare saw a 20 percent increase over the previous year, government experienced a 15 percent increase, while attacks on the education sector experienced a decrease of 10 percent. 

Data exfiltration has become a central component of ransomware, with attackers increasingly combining data encryption with data theft and threatening to publish or sell sensitive information if ransoms are not paid.

"The report shows 2024 was a landmark year with organizations facing growing financial and reputational damage from ransomware attacks, with high-value sectors particularly pressured to pay ransoms to restore operations," says Dr. Darren Williams, founder and CEO of BlackFog. "As cybercriminals continuously refine their techniques to exploit vulnerabilities and launch large-scale attacks, defending against ransomware is becoming increasingly complex. Governments are stepping up efforts to counter this growing threat, introducing new measures such as mandatory ransomware incident reporting. However, the global ransomware crisis continues to escalate at an alarming rate. In this evolving threat landscape, proactive and preventative strategies to mitigate ransomware and data exfiltration have never been more crucial."  

You can get the full report from the BlackFog site.

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