Ransomware attackers extorted at least $456.8 million in 2022, down from $765.6 million the year before as victims are refusing to pay

As per the title, which is based on Chainalysis' Crypto Crime Report.

Ransomware is a type of malware, or malicious software, that locks up a victim's data or computing device and threatens to keep it locked — or worse — unless the victim pays the attacker a ransom (IBM's definition).

The whole picture of such crimes is shown in the figure below:

Source: Chainalysis

The decrease from 2021 to 2022 does not mean that the number of attacks are down. Rather, the report believes that most victims are refusing to pay: 41% of victims paid for their data, whereas 59% did not. These numbers were different in e.g. 2019: 76% paid, 24% did not.

To avoid being targeted, try to have good security practices:

• If you have sensitive data on your devices, try to store them locally, not on the cloud, and have more than one backup
• Don't allow your mobile to store sensitive data on the cloud and regularly back it up
• Have non-sms 2FA on all of your crypto-related accounts, including emails
• Avoid talking to people you don't know/trust about crypto, either online or not

I know backing everything up regularly is a pain, but at the end of the day it's best to be safe than to be sorry. I wouldn't like to be part of a crypto-crime statistics.

Stay safe you all!