New Research Shows Ransomware Attacks Resurge with Victims Doubling in 2023

New Research Shows Ransomware Attacks Resurge with Victims Doubling in 2023

Black Kite, provider third-party cyber risk intelligence, recently released its highly anticipated report, “Ransomware Threat Landscape 2023: Ransomware Resurgence”. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of 2,708 ransomware victims with detailed insights into attacks from April 2022 to March 2023. The findings reveal a major ransomware resurgence this year, with the number of victims in March nearly double that of last April and 1.6 times higher than the peak month in 2022.

“While there were some signs of ransomware decreasing last year due to increased pressure from law enforcement and several ransomware groups shutting down, the last few months serve as a stark reminder that we are far from being in the clear,” said Bob Maley, CSO at Black Kite. “As more ransomware groups exploit vulnerabilities in third-party vendors, businesses will be blindsided unless they continuously monitor their extended ecosystem for susceptibility indicators and the earliest warning signs of risk.”

The “Ransomware Threat Landscape 2023: Ransomware Resurgence” Report’s key findings include:

  • Ransomware attacks resurged in early 2023, with new players such as Royal, BianLian, and Play ransomware gangs joining the field and major players like Lockbit and Clop executing mass-ransomware attacks.
  • The top targeted industries were Manufacturing (19.5%), Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (15.3%), and Educational Services (6.1%).
  • The United States was the top targeted country, accounting for 43% of victim organizations, followed by the UK (5.7%) and Germany (4.4%).
  • Ransomware groups tend to target companies with annual revenues of approximately $50M to $60M, with third-party vendors often being targeted for client information extortion.
  • The top ransomware groups during the analysis period included Lockbit (29%), AlphaVM (BlackCat) (8.6%), and Black Basta (7.2%).
  • More than 70% of ransomware victims had a Ransomware Susceptibility Index® (RSI™) value above the critical threshold (0.4), indicating their susceptibility to ransomware attacks. An RSI score generated by Black Kite indicates an organization's susceptibility to ransomware attacks.
  • Common ransomware susceptibility indicators among victims included poor email configuration, recent credential leaks, public remote access ports, out-of-date systems, and IP addresses with botnet activity.
  • Encryption-less ransomware is on the rise, underscoring the importance of data protection and regulatory compliance in addition to addressing business interruption risks posed by traditional encryption-based attacks.

“Ransomware groups have increasingly taken on characteristics of an innovative and mature tech company – but as Black Kite Research shows, it is possible to understand their likely next move,” said Ferhat Dikbiyik, head of research at Black Kite. “Our data pinpoints key vulnerabilities, top targets, and more, so organizations can become as agile as the adversary with defensible intelligence. Thinking like a hacker is the first step toward activating effective prevention, response, and recovery for the level of vigilance needed to overcome these sophisticated criminals.”

Black Kite provides third-party risk intelligence from a technical, financial and compliance perspective to eliminate false positives and ensure a holistic approach to vendor risk management. In addition to the “Ransomware Threat Landscape 2023: Ransomware Resurgence” Report, Black Kite offers in-depth industry analysis reports, third-party breach research, and more.

Featured

  • Mall of America Deploys AI-Powered Analytics to Enhance Parking Intelligence

    Mall of America®, the largest shopping and entertainment complex in North America, announced an expansion of its ongoing partnership with Axis Communications to deploy cutting-edge car-counting video analytics across more than a dozen locations. With this expansion, Mall of America (MOA) has boosted operational efficiency, improved safety and security, and enabled more informed decision-making around employee scheduling and streamlining transportation for large events. Read Now

  • Security Industry Association Launches New “askSIA” AI Tool

    The Security Industry Association (SIA) has unveiled a brand-new SIA member benefit – askSIA, a conversational AI agent designed to help users get the most out of their SIA membership, easily access SIA resources and find the latest information on SIA’s training and courses, reports and publications, events, certification offerings and more. SIA members can easily find askSIA by visiting the SIA homepage or looking for the askSIA icon in the top left of webpages. Read Now

    • Industry Events
  • Industry Embraces Mobile Access, Biometrics and AI

    A combination of evolving workplace dynamics, technology innovation and new user expectations is changing how people enter and interact with physical spaces. Access control is at the heart of these changes. Combined with biometrics and AI, mobile access control has become increasingly crucial for deploying entry solutions that are seamless, secure and adaptive to user needs. Read Now

  • Sustainable Video Solution Delivered for Landmark City of London Office Development

    An advanced, end-to-end video solution from IDIS, with a focus on reducing waste and costs, has helped a major office development in the City of London align its security with sustainability objectives. Read Now

  • DHS to End ‘Shoes-Off’ Travel Policy

    Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced a new policy today which will allow passengers traveling through domestic airports to keep their shoes on while passing through security screening at TSA checkpoints. Read Now

New Products

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”

  • A8V MIND

    A8V MIND

    Hexagon’s Geosystems presents a portable version of its Accur8vision detection system. A rugged all-in-one solution, the A8V MIND (Mobile Intrusion Detection) is designed to provide flexible protection of critical outdoor infrastructure and objects. Hexagon’s Accur8vision is a volumetric detection system that employs LiDAR technology to safeguard entire areas. Whenever it detects movement in a specified zone, it automatically differentiates a threat from a nonthreat, and immediately notifies security staff if necessary. Person detection is carried out within a radius of 80 meters from this device. Connected remotely via a portable computer device, it enables remote surveillance and does not depend on security staff patrolling the area.