A serious firm made a staggering $75 million ransomware cost to hackers earlier this yr, in line with cybersecurity vendor Zscaler. Zscaler made the declare in a Tuesday report inspecting the newest traits in ransomware assaults, which proceed to ensnare corporations, hospitals, and colleges throughout the nation. In a tweet, Zscaler mentioned the unnamed “Fortune 50 firm” made the $75 million cost to a lesser identified ransomware group known as Darkish Angels. “The cost is the one largest ransomware-related transaction ever reported,” the cybersecurity vendor added.Chainanalysis, a cryptocurrency monitoring agency, additionally confirmed to PCMag it noticed the $75 million cost to Darkish Angels as properly. The earlier ransomware report holder goes to insurance coverage supplier CNA, which reportedly paid $40 million to a hacking group generally known as Phoenix in 2021.In comparison with different ransomware teams, Darkish Angels stands out by often specializing in a “single giant firm at a time,” and demanding a excessive sum, Zscaler says. “That is in stark distinction to most ransomware teams, which goal victims indiscriminately and outsource a lot of the assault to affiliate networks.”For example, Zscaler mentioned it tracked Darkish Angels in September 2023 breaching an “worldwide conglomerate that gives options for constructing automation techniques, amongst different providers.” Darkish Angels stole 27TB of company info whereas encrypting the corporate’s VMware ESXi digital machines. The group then demanded a $51 million ransom.
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“The Darkish Angels ransomware group’s technique of concentrating on a small variety of high-value corporations for giant payouts is a pattern price monitoring,” in line with Zscaler, which says its “ThreatLabz predicts that different ransomware teams will pay attention to Darkish Angels’ success and should undertake related techniques.”The US stays a prime goal for ransomware hackers. The variety of ransomware assaults within the nation this yr have doubled thus far to 1,821, up from 902 in 2023. The corporate revealed the findings as others, reminiscent of Chainalysis, report that the ransomware scourge continues to develop, regardless of legislation enforcement efforts to crack down.
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