Since the beginning of the year, ransomware hackers have earned about $ 33 million in BTC from ransoms. This amount could grow significantly if the REvil group receives a ransom of $ 70 million in BTC from Kaseya.
According to Ransomwhere, a crowdsourcing platform for tracking payments to ransomware operators, the REvil hacker group has received about a third of all ransomware ransoms this year – the victims of the attacks paid the attackers about $ 11.3 million in BTC.
At the beginning of the month, another attack by REvil hackers paralyzed the networks of at least 200 American companies. The ransom for decrypting the data is about $ 70 million in BTC, which hackers demand from the software developer Kaseya.
According to Ransomwhere, the Mailto / Netwalker group managed to get the most ransoms in cryptocurrency – about $ 27.9 million, including $ 5.7 million this year. Other large ransomware hacking groups include RagnarLocker, DarkSide, and Egregor.
Payments to hackers in 2021. A source: Ransomwhere.
The Ransomwhere platform was launched this month by security researcher Jack Cable. Cable helped the U.S. Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency secure electoral systems ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
According to records Cable on Twitter, it is impossible to fully assess the impact of ransomware attacks without comprehensive public data on the total number of payments to hackers. According to him, the presence of such data will also help to understand whether “certain actions affect the overall situation.”
According to Ransomwhere, the total amount of payments to hackers in recent years has exceeded $ 60 million. However, as Cable emphasizes, the information will not be complete without the help of the community, including victims of ransomware attacks. It encourages anyone who has address data for payments to ransomware operators to submit it to the site.
“Ransomwhere aims to fill the gap and track BTC transactions associated with ransomware groups.” wrote Cable.
According to cyber security firm Barracuda Networks, between October 2020 and May 2021, the number of cyber attacks aimed at stealing BTC grew by 192%. As Ransomwhere states, “due to the transparent nature of the first cryptocurrency, it is easy to track payments by knowing the receiving addresses” and ultimately identify criminals.
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