Data extracted and analyzed by Atlas VPN reveals, the amounts of demanded ransom payments increased by 140%, comparing the numbers of 2018 to 2019. More and more organizations succumb to blackmail: 57% of organizations settled and paid the ransom during the last 12 months.
Ransomware is a type of malicious attack where a criminal encrypts, typically, sensitive files, then threatens to publish them, unless a demanded ransom is paid.
The team of Atlas VPN researchers added the average sums hackers were demanding during each quarter in 2018 and 2019 globally, then divided the number into four.
In 2018, the requested ransom payments reached 7.6 thousand dollars on average, globally. During the first quarter, the monetary amount of requested ransom payments hit 5.4 thousand dollars on average, Crypsis report suggests.
The number increased to 8.3 thousand dollars amid the second quarter and peaked in the third quarter, reaching 10 thousand dollars on average. During the fourth quarter, criminals were requesting companies to pay 7 thousand dollars on average.
It is safe to say cybercriminals got more greedy in 2019: by encrypting companies’ files, they were requesting 18 thousand dollars on average. The number is 140% bigger in comparison to 2018.
The average number spiked dramatically amid the first quarter, hitting 14 thousand dollars and continued to increase. In the second quarter, it spiked to nearly 16 thousand dollars on average.
The sum peaked in the third quarter of 2019, hitting 22.8 thousand dollars and being the largest demanded amount during the two-year period. It then dropped to 21.7 thousand dollars amid the last quarter of 2019.
