Despite Catastrophic Hacks, Ransomware Payments Dropped Dramatically Last Year

Quick Summary:

Ransomware gangs continued to wreak havoc in 2024, but new research shows that the amounts victims paid these cybercriminals fell by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Two months later, in February of 2024, the UK’s National Crime Agency carried out an operation against the notorious ransomware group Lockbit, hijacking its infrastructure, seizing its cryptocurrency wallets, taking down its dark-web sites, and even obtaining information about its members and cybercriminal partners.

And Burns Koven adds that cryptocurrency regulation and law enforcement crackdowns on money laundering infrastructure, including mixers that help criminals anonymize and obfuscate the source of their ill-gotten cryptocurrencies, have also eroded ransomware actors’ abilities to handle payments without specialized knowledge.

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Article Details

Author / Journalist: Andy Greenberg, Lily Hay Newman

Category: TechnologyEconomy

Markets: United States

Topics: Security / Cyberattacks and Hacks Security Security / Security News

Source Website Secure: Yes (HTTPS)

News Sentiment: Negative

Fact Checked: Legitimate

Article Type: News Report

Published On: 2025-02-05 @ 13:00:00 (14 hours ago)

News Timezone: GMT +8:00

News Source URL: wired.com

Language: English

Article Length: 1874 words

Reading Time: 11 minutes read

Sentences: 65 lines

Sentence Length: 29 words per sentence (average)

Platforms: Desktop Web, Mobile Web, iOS App, Android App

Copyright Owner: © Wired

News ID: 25909092

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Official Website: wired.com

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