Founder, BeforeCrypt Ltd – A Leading Ransomware Expert In Europe.
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In the past year, we’ve seen an escalation of the ransomware threat, with an increase in the quantity and quality of attacks by threat actors. Keeping up to date with trends in the world of ransomware is key to optimizing your cyber defenses. As the saying goes, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
The beginning of a new year is a good time to reflect on what’s happened over the last 12 months in the world of ransomware. As a ransomware expert, I’m going to share some of the standout trends we’ve been seeing in this space and how you can stay one step ahead of hackers in 2024.
Attacks On The Rise
It’s been a tough year in the world of cybersecurity. During the Covid pandemic, a surge in remote work expanded the attack surface area of many networks and provided fertile ground for ransomware hackers.
Today, cyberattacks escalate as cybercriminals innovate and cybersecurity defenses are subsequently strengthened.
While 2022 saw only a small increase in the total number of attacks, successful attacks were more severe. The average ransom demand increased sharply in 2023, from around $812,000 in 2022 to approximately $1.5 million in 2023.
Changing Insurance Landscape
The growth in insurance premiums mirrors the threat landscape in some ways. Insurance premiums, like attacks, increased less in 2023 than in 2022. However, insurance companies are now adding more exclusions in insurance policies.
For example, many policies now feature “war exclusions” in response to the war in Ukraine. This means insurance may no longer cover state-sponsored attacks intended to hit critical infrastructure or defense and security sectors. These exclusions have caused problems in the past. For example, in 2017, the Zurich American Insurance Company claimed a war exclusion on the losses of U.S. company Mondelez. Mondelez sued and settled with Zurich in 2022 for an undisclosed amount.
This may be relevant for companies in certain sectors. It’s important for these companies to read any new policies carefully.
Not all of the changes are so scary, though. More insurers are making encryption, two-factor authentication and other security features mandatory requirements. This will help force more companies to implement security best practices, which could decrease the prevalence of attacks.
Triple Extortion Attacks
One disturbing trend in 2023 was the growing number of triple extortion attacks. Ransomware attacks started by just encrypting data. With double extortion attacks, hackers started threatening to leak sensitive data to extort more money. With triple extortion, attackers threaten to contact a victim’s clients, notify the media or regulators about a data breach, or launch denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
The goal of these attacks is to inflict maximum pressure on victims to terrorize them into paying. Imagine your business operations shut down because all your data is encrypted. Hackers are threatening to leak personal customer data, causing millions in legal expenses. Then the hackers take down your company’s website, and customers start calling in about hackers contacting them and telling them they have their personal data—not a fun situation.
The goal is to make victims as miserable as possible so they’ll be willing to pay to get relief. There has been a notable uptick in this toxic behavior in 2023, and it shows no signs of slowing down going into 2024.
More Attacks On Law Firms
Some sectors need to exercise more caution than others. In particular, we have seen more law firms getting hit with ransomware in 2023. This is linked to the increasing reliance on data exfiltration by hackers. Law firms tend to have some of the most sensitive information on file and the heaviest consequences for data leads.
A number of such data leaks in 2023 resulted in lawsuits against law firms that failed to protect client data.
How To Protect Against Ransomware In 2024
One of the main security lessons of 2023 is that high-profile attacks are increasingly dependent on data exfiltration. In 2024, protecting client data is becoming as important for a company’s reputation as flight safety is for an airline’s reputation.
The struggle here is to balance operational efficiency with security. High security can prevent ransomware attacks, but it can also become a burden. The solution to this dilemma is intelligent network architecture solutions. It’s important to conduct regular security audits with this in mind. What kind of data is most sensitive and how is it secured? Who has access to it?
Not all data is created equal, so not all data should be handled in the same way. The principle of least privilege is key in limiting hackers’ ability to access sensitive data. The more sensitive data is, the fewer people should have access to it, and the more safeguards there need to be on it, such as encryption and two-factor authentication.
Security audits need to focus on the fact that people are often the weak link in the information security chain. Phishing attacks are critical elements of almost all high-profile ransomware attacks, so those who have access to sensitive data need extra security training and awareness.
As ransomware attacks become more prevalent, cybersecurity may actually become a means of surpassing competition—a strong data security record can be a key part of a healthy brand image going into the future.
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