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Cyber Risks · Unit 42 Palo Alto Networks

Breaking Down Ransomware Attacks

Summary: Unit 42 reports that ransomware extortion demands are now regularly priced in the millions and sometimes tens of millions of dollars, with costs extending to operational downtime, brand damage, data discovery fees, litigation and data privacy impact. Since the end of 2019, the definition has expanded to include double-extortion, where actors such as Maze and LockBit exfiltrate data and post it on leak sites, and increasingly a third pressure tactic of DDoS attacks on public websites.

Bottom line: Unit 42's consultants draw on hundreds of ransomware cases across government agencies and businesses of all sizes, and they note that even a paid ransom brings no guarantee: attackers have sent non-functioning or partial decryption keys, and some keys carried additional malicious files or backdoors.

Read the original at Unit 42 Palo Alto Networks ↗

Topics
Malware
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