2% of all ransomware attacks worldwide target Australian organizations
Zscaler’s annual ransomware report also notes a new record ransomware payout of $75 million.
Cybersecurity company Zscaler has launched its ThreatLabz Ransomware Report 2024and paints a particularly bleak picture for Australian organizations that increasingly find themselves on the sites of ransomware gangs.
The United States remains the most attacked nation during the period between April 2023 and April 2024, with a whopping 49.95 percent of all detected ransomware incidents targeting entities in the country.
While the top five target nations are rounded out by the United Kingdom (5.92 percent), Germany (4.09 percent), Canada (3.51 percent) and France (3.26 percent), Australia takes the top spot. seventh place with 2 percent. of all attacks worldwide during the year.
This is behind Italy, with 3.24 percent of attacks, but still ahead of more populous nations such as India, with 1.65 percent, and Japan, with 1.15 percent.
In total, Zscaler tracked 73 ransomware attacks against Australian targets during the April to April period, a 5.8 percent increase from a year earlier.
As for the ransomware gangs themselves, while LockBit was clearly the most active group during the period, with 998 attacks (compared to 410 carried out by the number two operation, BlackCat), Zscaler has said that the number one group a to follow in the future are the Dark Angels. band.
The group occupies the top spot thanks to what can only be called very demanding tactics, which have allowed it to successfully demand the highest ransom ever paid by a ransomware victim.
“In early 2024, ThreatLabz discovered a victim who paid Dark Angels $75 million, more than any publicly known amount, an achievement that is sure to attract the interest of other attackers looking to replicate that success by adopting their key tactics,” Zscaler said. in his report.
Dark Angel tactics tend to choose a single high-value target and attack only one target at a time. You can spend days extracting large volumes of data, up to 100 terabytes in some cases. For example, it attacked an international building automation conglomerate, stealing 27 terabytes of data and demanding a $51 million ransom after encrypting its VMware ESXi virtual machines.
“The Dark Angels ransomware group’s strategy of targeting a small number of high-value companies for large payouts is a trend worth monitoring,” Zscaler said.
“Zscaler ThreatLabz predicts that other ransomware groups will take note of Dark Angels’ success and may adopt similar tactics, focusing on high-value targets and increasing the importance of data theft to maximize their financial gains.”
