Ransomware hackers earned a lot less last year

Have you noticed? It seems very long since we used ‘ransomware’ in a title of an article. “It’s no impression,” says Geert Baudewijns, CEO of Secutec and author of Negotiating in the dark. “”The number of hacks has decreased. Also the payments. Perhaps that has to do with the fall of Lockbit 3.0. “

Lockbit was an international group of ransomware hackers. “But since the organization on the American list of sanctions they have fallen apart. No one who could or wanted to make payments to Lockbit. “

Lockbit was more than a collective. It was also a platform. “Hacking and locking with ransomware is one thing. The next step is to negotiate via a secure chattool. You also need a place where you can publish the data of your victims if they do not pay. Lockbit offered all of this. “

Lockbit even had a so -called ‘affiliate program’. “There, outsiders who wanted to put their boss or company a heel could leave their password, username and bitcoin address.” If then members of Lockbit were able to successfully hack and extort a company in this way, you received a percentage. ”

(adm)