Chainalysis, an analytics firm, estimates that scammers made about $602 million using ransomware in 2021, but this amount could be much higher.
According to the Chainalysis report, this is an estimate and there is still a lot of unconfirmed data. Analysts expect the total to exceed the 2020 figure of $692 million, as ransomware scammers’ earnings in the first half of 2021 exceeded their earnings in the first half of 2020.
In 2021, the average ransom requested by scammers reached a record high of $118,000. This is 26% higher than in 2020, when the figure did not exceed $88,000. In addition, last year, according to analysts, more active programs were recorded – ransomware than in previous years, and at least 140 of them demanded cryptocurrencies as payment.
Experts called Conti the most popular such program in 2021. With the help of this program, the scammers managed to earn about $200 million in cryptocurrency. In second place is the Darkside program, which brought criminals about $ 100 million. Note that the group of hackers that created Darkside is accused of hacking into the operator of the largest fuel pipeline system in the United States, Colonial Pipeline.
Recall that in the middle of last year, a member of the House of Representatives of the US Congress Carolyn Maloney (Carolyn Maloney) demanded that the companies Colonial Pipeline and CNA Financial, subjected to hacker attacks, explain why they agreed to pay the scammers.
Source: Bits
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