Ransomware attacks are on the rise, but quantifying the scope of the problem can be tricky when only the most high-profile cases make headlines. Enter Ransomwhere,
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Jack Cable, a security architect at the cybersecurity consulting firm Krebs Stamos Group, launched the site on Thursday.
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The way it works is Ransomwhere keeps a running tally of ransoms paid out to cybercriminals in the bitcoin cryptocurrency. This is largely made possible because of the transparent nature of bitcoin: All transactions involving the cryptocurrency are recorded on the blockchain, a decentralized database that acts as a public ledger, thus allowing anyone to track any transactions specifically associated with ransomware groups.
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Since the U.S. dollar value of bitcoin is constantly fluctuating, Ransomwhere calculates each ransom amount based on the bitcoin exchange rate on the day that the transaction was sent.
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So far in 2021, the Russia-linked cybercriminal gang that took credit for the Kaseya and JBS attacks, REvil, is leading the pack by a mile with more than $11 million in ransom payments, according to Ransomwhere. Coming in second with 6.2 million is Netwalker, one of the most popular ransomware-as-a-service offerings on the dark web. Though it should be noted that Netwalker has the dubious honor of racking up the most ransom payments of all time, with roughly $28 million to its name based on the site’s data.
REvil could soon surpass that record if its recent demands for $70 million are met. That’s how much the gang asked for on Sunday to publish a universal decryptor that would unlock all computers affected in the Kaseya hack, a supply chain attack that has crippled more than 1,000 companies worldwide and prompted a federal investigation.
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Source: This Crowdsourced Ransomware Payment Tracker Shows How Much Cybercriminals Have Heisted
Robin Edgar
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