Hacker income from robber programs fell by a third last year, although there were more attacks

In 2024, the number of hacker attacks using carrier programs increased, however, despite this, the attackers managed to get much less funds as a redemption for restoring access to blocked data, Chainalysis analytical company found out.

Source of images: Chainalysis

According to Chainalysis, the injured companies paid $ 814 million hackers for 2024, which is 35 % less than in 2023, when this amount reached the record $ 1.25 billion. It is also noted that for the first time since 2022, attackers of attackers from programs- extortionists decreased. The reasons for the reduction of payments were the activation of law enforcement agencies in the fight against cybercrime, increasing the efficiency of international cooperation between special services and the reluctance of the victims to pay large amounts, despite the risk of data loss. The requested amounts of ransom were 53 % higher than the hackers eventually received.

After a series of operations on the seizure of servers conducted in early 2024, law enforcement agencies of several countries against the LockBit hacker group, payments for removing blocking using this robber virus decreased by 79 %in the second half of the year. Recall that 51-year-old Rostislav Panev, one of Lockbit’s key developers, was arrested in Israel in August 2024. He is currently expecting extradition in the United States.

Lizzie Cookson, senior director of Coveware, companies specializing in response to incidents with robber programs, told Chainalysis that the market has not recovered after the collapse of the LockBit and Blackcat/Alpha groups. “The current ecosystem of robber programs is filled with many newcomers who, as a rule, concentrate efforts in small and medium-sized businesses. In turn, this leads to more modest requirements of ransom, ”she said.

In the first half of 2024, the volumes of ransom received by hackers remained approximately at the level of the same period of 2023 – about $ 459.8 million, which is 2.38 % more in annual calculus. This amount includes a record ransom of $ 75 million paid by the hacker group Dark Angels for the restoration of information. However, in the second half of 2024, the affected companies began to agree much less often to the payment of ransom, which led to a decrease in hackers by 34.9 % compared to the first half of the year.