According to a recent survey, ransomware assaults around the world are at an all-time high, with the United States being the main target for cybercriminals.
According to the report from the internet security company Malwarebytes, over 43% of the 1,900 recorded ransomware assaults collected between July 2022 and June 2023 showed dangerous global tendencies in these malicious acts.
Along with the United States, ransomware deployment also increased in Germany, France, and the UK.
In total, 48 different ransomware organizations targeted the US throughout the observation period, which represents a 75% increase over the average monthly attack volume in the US during the first and second halves of 2022.
The majority of the attacks targeted American businesses, political agencies, healthcare providers, and educational organizations.
With an average of 24 attacks per month, LockBit has been the most prevalent type of “Ransomware-as-a-Service” (RaaS) in the US for the past 1.5 years. LockBit claims to have 100 affiliates.
In contrast, the United Kingdom, which saw around 200 ransomware assaults, emerged as the second-largest ransomware target, according to the survey.
Seven of the 32 ransomware gangs that targeted the UK reported more than ten known assaults.
The number of groups carrying out more than one known attack each month in the UK has progressively increased for a year, from just one in July 2022 to eight in June 2023, according to the research.
“More ransomware gangs are targeting targets multiple times a month,” the report stated.
Germany was the most frequently attacked nation outside of the Anglosphere and the fourth most frequently targeted nation overall.
The survey noted that France has a disproportionately high rate of attacks (9% of attacks) on its government sector.
Meanwhile, As per a July 2023 report from the Silicon Republic, which cited IBM’s latest ‘Cost of a Data Breach Report,’ found that while AI is helping to detect and contain cyberattacks, it is the customer data which is getting breached on a regular basis.
The IBM Security report also claimed that the global average cost of a data breach reached USD 4.45 million in 2023, an all-time high, as the phenomenon saw a 15% increase since 2020.
The report looked at data breaches experienced by 553 organisations globally between March 2022 and March 2023, before claiming that 57% of these organisations passing on the incident costs to consumers, while 51% of the surveyed businesses stated about increasing security investments.