• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

My TechDecisions

  • Best of Tech Decisions
  • Topics
    • Video
    • Audio
    • Mobility
    • Unified Communications
    • IT Infrastructure
    • Network Security
    • Physical Security
    • Facility
    • Compliance
  • RFP Resources
  • Resources
  • Podcasts
  • Subscribe
  • Project of the Week
  • About Us
    SEARCH
IT Infrastructure, Network Security, News

The Average Ransomware Payment In Q4 Was Over $322,000

Increasing law enforcement attention is forcing ransomware actors to target larger companies, pushing average ransomware payments higher.

February 8, 2022 Zachary Comeau Leave a Comment

Andrey Popov/stock.adobe.com

Ransomware payments have skyrocketed in recent months, hitting an average of over $300,000 in the last quarter of 2021, as the risks of doing business has increased for ransomware threat actors, according to a new report.

Coveware, a ransomware recovery firm, reports that the average ransomware payment in the fourth quarter was $322,168, a 130% increase from the previous quarter. Meanwhile, the mean ransom payment was $117,116, a 63% bump from the third quarter.

The company says this reflects a “subtle tactical shift’ in the ransomware-as-a-service economy that reflects increasing costs and risks associated with cybercrime, including increasing law enforcement attention.

As noted by Coveware, 14 members of the REvil ransomware gang were arrested by Russia’s FSB last month in a raid that resulted in seizing about $7 million in combined currencies and 20 luxury cars.

“This was an unprecedented action for the Russian government to take and has surely increased the risk profile of being a ransomware affiliate,” the company wrote in the report. “This decreases the addressable market of cyber criminals willing and able to execute these attacks, as not all of them are willing to risk jail time or western extradition for the money they earn.”

Due to that increased risk, ransomware actors are increasingly targeted larger companies that have the means to pay a “big game” ransom amount, but small enough to keep attack operations costs low and avoid media and law enforcement attention.

The tactical shift involves a deliberate attempt to extort companies that are large enough to pay a ‘big game’ ransom amount but small enough to keep attack operating costs and resulting media and Law Enforcement attention low.

The company found that the proportion of victims with between 1,000 and 10,000 employees grew from 8% in the third quarter to 14% last quarter, and the average ransom payment in that group was “well north” of $1 million.

In addition, the world is just getting better at cybersecurity, the report suggests, as cyber insurance providers are mandating better security in order to maintain policies, high-profile attacks are spurring awareness, and government agencies are becoming more involved in cybersecurity—all of which is leading to more expenses and risk for cybercriminals.

The report also found an increase in the percentage of ransomware actors maintaining persistence in victim systems, as 82% of attacks had persistence tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP).

For initial ingress vectors, remote desktop protocol compromise and email phishing remain the top two, but software vulnerability exploiting is rising, with two 2021 Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities (CVE-2021-34473 and CVE-2021-26855) and a 2018 Fortinet firewall bug (CVE-2018-13379) the most exploited by ransomware actors.

If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!

Tagged With: ransomware

Related Content:

  • InfoComm Logo InfoComm 2023 Show to Spotlight Emerging Technologies
  • MOVEit vulnerability, zero-day, Progress Software Act Now: Vulnerability in Progress Software’s MOVEit Transfer…
  • iPhone security bug, Apple, Kaspersky Kaspersky Discovers New 0-Click iOS Exploit
  • C919 The Cyberattacks and Insider Threats During The Development…

Free downloadable guide you may like:

  • Download TechDecisions' Blueprint Series report on Security Awareness now!Blueprint Series: Why Your Security Awareness Program is Probably Falling Short

    Learn about the evolution of phishing attacks and best practices for security awareness programs to ensure your organization is properly prepared to defend against them in this report from TechDecisions' Blueprint Series.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get the FREE Tech Decisions eNewsletter

Sign up Today!

Latest Downloads

Download TechDecisions' Blueprint Series report on Security Awareness now!
Blueprint Series: Why Your Security Awareness Program is Probably Falling Short

Learn about the evolution of phishing attacks and best practices for security awareness programs to ensure your organization is properly prepared t...

Workplace Collaboration Tools for Corporate Spaces
Workplace Collaboration Tools for Corporate Spaces

From lobbies and shared spaces to conference rooms and multipurpose facilities, you need high-performing AV technology to effectively share informa...

ChatGPT, generative AI, enterprise, workplace
Blueprint Series: ChatGPT and Generative AI in the Workplace

This latest release of the TechDecisions Blueprint Series explores the new phenomenon of tools such as ChatGPT and how IT leaders should go about d...

View All Downloads

Would you like your latest project featured on TechDecisions as Project of the Week?

Apply Today!
Sharp Microsoft Collaboration HQ Logo

Learn More About the
Windows Collaboration Display

More from Our Sister Publications

Get the latest news about AV integrators and Security installers from our sister publications:

Commercial IntegratorSecurity Sales

AV-iQ

Footer

TechDecisions

  • Home
  • Welcome to TechDecisions
  • Subscribe to the Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Media Solutions & Advertising
  • Comment Guidelines
  • RSS Feeds
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linkedin

Free Technology Guides

FREE Downloadable resources from TechDecisions provide timely insight into the issues that IT, A/V, and Security end-users, managers, and decision makers are facing in commercial, corporate, education, institutional, and other vertical markets

View all Guides
TD Project of the Week

Get your latest project featured on TechDecisions Project of the Week. Submit your work once and it will be eligible for all upcoming weeks.

Enter Today!
Emerald Logo
ABOUTCAREERSAUTHORIZED SERVICE PROVIDERSTERMS OF USEPRIVACY POLICY

© 2023 Emerald X, LLC. All rights reserved.