The cost of attacks has also changed: prices for virus encryption software on the dark web have fallen by 10-12 times
In Russia, hackers who extort ransoms for decrypting and refusing to publish stolen data have begun to demand much less money from their victims than before. This is reported by the publication "Kommersant" with reference to the study of the company "RTK-Solar".
According to RTK-Solar, the amount of redemption decreased by more than 20 times year on year. An analyst from Positive Technologies confirms the trend, although his estimates differ. In the second quarter, the median buyout amounted to about $36,000, which is 51% less than at the end of 2021, the analyst explained.
According to the publication, the attackers have to reduce the amount of the ransom, because if it is higher than the cost of the services of a company that can legally investigate the incident, the attackers simply will not be paid. Another possible reason is the close attention of regulators to the topic of business information security.
It is reported that the cost of attacks has also changed: the prices of virus encryption software on the dark web have fallen by 10-12 times.
“Recently, the codes of several encryption programs have been published, which have become available to everyone, so hackers, even with basic training, are able to create a virus on their own without spending money,” RTK Solar explained.
At the same time, as Group-IB said, a number of groups are still operating in Russia, whose ransoms reach 1 billion rubles. First of all, such hackers target banks, insurance companies, retailers and IT.
For example, the group of hackers OldGremlin. If in 2021 OldGremlin demanded 250 million rubles from the victim. for restoring access to data, then in 2022 their price tag rose to 1 billion rubles, experts noted.