Payoffs are Rising Fast
Ransomware payments rose to over 300% in 2020, to over $300 Million, mostly transacted in Cryptocurrencies. Ransomware payoffs have boosted the popularity of Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin; however, the illegal use of Cryptocurrencies is still a very small number compared to the legitimate transactions registered by Bitcoin and others.
The most active Ransomware cybercriminals in 2020 include Maze, who claims to have shuttered operations in November of 2020, Ryuk, Netwalker, and Dopplepaymer. Maze claimed the most activity and may have well garnered the most payouts in 2020. The FBI continues to track these cyber criminals and bring them to Justice in the United States.
An up-and-coming Cyberthreat is making headlines – Conti, a new strain of Ransomware, has been streaming across the Internet in 2021 as it infects Healthcare and Financial institutions leaving them crippled, even under the most modern cybersecurity policies and tools on the market. Conti utilizes various techniques to evade scanning and detection, and was designed with multi-threading so that many CPU threads could be used to help bolster the speed of its dispersion and its related encryption of the targets data.
