Ransomware losses in the US surged to $59.6m in 2023, a 74% rise on the previous year’s reported figure of $34.4m, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Report 2023.
This figure was calculated from 2825 ransomware incidents reported to the FBI last year, an increase of 18% from 2022.
The law enforcement agency added that the true figure is likely to be far higher, as many ransomware infections go unreported. For example, when the FBI infiltrated the Hive group’s infrastructure in 2023 it found that only 20% of Hive’s victims reported to law enforcement.
The FBI partly attributed this rise to threat actors adjusting their tactics, such as the deployment of multiple ransomware variants against the same victim and the use of data-destruction to increase pressure on victims to negotiate.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 1193 complaints of ransomware attacks from critical infrastructure organizations.
Healthcare was the critical infrastructure sector most impacted by the vector, with 249 reports. This was followed by critical manufacturing (218) and government facilities (156).
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