In 2024, ransomware attacks generated $813.5 million, a decline from $1.25 billion in 2023, as payment activity decreased, particularly after July. Although the number of ransomware events rose, fewer victims paid ransoms, indicating a trend toward targeting more victims but with lower acceptance of ransom demands. Law enforcement efforts and ineffective decryption tools resulted in a decrease in average payment amounts. Industrial sectors faced the most attacks, as ransomware gangs shifted strategies toward targeting smaller entities, contributing to a significant rise in annual incidents.
Payments continue to remain primarily a last-resort option for those who have no alternative to recover critical data.
The number of ransomware events increased into H2, but on-chain payments declined, suggesting that more victims were targeted, but fewer paid.
Faulty decryption tools from both new and old ransomware strains and mounting distrust of threat actors' ability to honor assurances compound to drive victims away from the table.
With a crucial role in the global economy, Industrials experienced 27% of all ransomware attacks in 2024, increasing 15% from 2023.
Collection
[
|
...
]