Crypto-linked cybercrime saw another record year as ransomware risk rises

Ransomware operators are on their way to break another record this year, if crypto inflows are any indication, new research has claimed.

A report from Chainalysis says in the first half of 2024, crypto inflows reached $460 million - up from $449 million 12 months ago, representing a 2% increase year-on-year.

The largest payment ever recorded happened this year, Chainalysis reports, when a company paid $75 million to the Dark Angels ransomware group. The median ransom payment to the most severe ransomware strains spiked from just under $200,000 in early 2023 to $1.5 million in mid-June 2024.

Dark Angels stealing millions

In total, ransomware groups made more than $1 billion last year, and chances are, they’ll repeat that success this year, too.

In other words, ransomware operators are earning more money from their activity - however the figure is not that straightforward. With LockBit disrupted, and ALPHV essentially non-existent, many active affiliate groups were forced to pivot to different strains, which are often not as effective. At the same time, many groups are opting for “big game hunting”, going for large enterprises, paying larger sums. This also means that there were fewer victims.

But stealing so much money via the blockchain is hardly doing the industry a disservice, Chainalysis said elsewhere in the report. Aggregate illicit activity on-chain dropped by almost a fifth year-to-date, meaning that legitimate activity is quickly growing. Unfortunately, crypto theft is growing, too, with stolen funds inflows nearly doubling, from $857 million last year, to $1.58 billion this year.

Finally, the average amount of cryptocurrency stolen per heist rose by almost 80%, mostly due to bitcoin’s meteoric rise this year. At the beginning of 2024, in the first week of January, BTC traded at around $43,906, while today, it hovers around the $59,000 mark, representing a 33% increase. In November 20222, BTC was below $16,000, after which it skyrocketed to almost $74,000 this spring.

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