New insight from blockchain analysis company, Chainalysis, shows that activity involving known ransomware crypto addresses has grown over the last 18 months, despite a downfall of other malicious activity.
When I cover reports, there’s an understanding that the accuracy of the data provided is dependent on the number of organizations responding to a survey, the geos and industries represented, etc. But I love when Chainalysis puts out their reporting, because the data they are pulling from covers the issue of crypto-related crime from a very different standpoint: the activity on the blockchain.
From this perspective, covered most recently in their 2023 Crypto Crime Report (which covers activity from the beginning of 2022 through mid-year 2023), we get a glimpse into what the back end of these cybercrime businesses look like from a transaction standpoint.
And there are a few interesting points to note:
- The total value of cryptocurrency received by known-illicit addresses is at its’ highest, rising nearly 14% in 2022 to over $20 billion
- Illicit wallets have taken in approximately $1 billion, down from $4.3 billion this time last year
- Every type of cybercrime that uses crypto as payment is down on their intake of payments with one exception – ransomware
Source: Chainalysis
Chainalysis admits even the number of ransomware transactions is on the decline – they attribute this to victim unwillingness to pay the ransoms. And, yet, ransomware payouts are still on the rise.
Since it appears that ransomware will continue to be a problem, it’s time for those organizations that have not yet invested in Security Awareness Training to do so quickly to help reduce the likelihood of a successful attack.
In many ways, we’ve been screaming loudly about the likely risk of ransomware attacks as the attack to be concerned about for years now. And, from the Chainalysis data, it appears that we’ll be doing so for the foreseeable future.
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