Chainalysis: "The profit of hackers from ransomware attacks is constantly growing" – Bits Media

According to Chainalysis, ransomware hackers are becoming more dangerous and sophisticated, and buybacks in cryptocurrencies, received from victims for decrypting files, grow.

Analyst firm Chainalysis reported, what's on the addresses, ransomware-related, in that the year has received at least $81 million in cryptocurrency, Whereas all 2020 This indicator has been $406 million. Analysts suspect, that real losses from extortion are much higher. Criminals constantly create new addresses, And the company's attackers often hide attempts to extort extortion.

Chainalysis said, that the prevalence of extortion services as services (RaaS) contributes to the rapid growth of corporate cyber attacks. Within the framework of the RAAS, developers of robber programs essentially license their software versions and share profit with affiliated persons. As the researchers report, Darkside Haker Group received the vast majority of income through Raas in the first quarter of this year.

Bades paid to hackers are also growing steadily. The victims of the robber viruses were paid on average $54 000 in the first quarter of this year compared to $46 000 In the IV quarter 2020 years and $12 000 In the IV quarter 2019 of the year. Usually, at least one ransom in the amount is paid per quarter $10 million.

Cryptocurrencies, Especially BTC, in which ransom are most often paid, are tracked thanks to public blockchains, which allows Chainalysis to monitor the movement of money. Around 9% Cryptocurrencies at the addresses belonging to hackers in the last quarter were distributed to fraudulent shops, Services of hacker tools and professional negotiators.

But most of the cryptocurrencies received by hackers by the past quarter - more 75% - ended up on cryptocurrency exchanges. At the same time, the vast majority of versions, probably, distributed by Cybercriminals associated with Russia. Chainalysis analysts think, what about these cybercriminals in 2021 the year there will be a "big share" of the activity of the robber programs.

According to Chainalysis, The most profitable versions of Militia viruses 2021 The years are harshly encoded, To avoid victims among Russian -speaking users. According to experts, Hackers received about Russia 92% income from the total amount of ransom this year compared to 86% last year.

A few days ago, the operator of the largest fuel system in the United States Colonial Pipeline paid hackers ransom $5 million in cryptocurrency for system recovery, The failure in which led to fuel deficiency. Law enforcement agencies began to more actively pursue hackers, Expanding programs-robbers. Recently, BleepingComputer reported, that US law enforcement officers captured servers, belonging to the hacker group Darkside.