Ransomware payments are down according to Chainalysis, but it may be a little too early to celebrate.
The good news is that victims are realizing that paying the ransom only encourages more attacks and empowers the attackers to do greater harm, so payoffs are not happening as much – lowering by 35% from last year. Additionally, crackdowns by law enforcement are putting pressure on the bad actors and the cryptocurrency systems they prefer to transact the ransom payments.
But I don’t think this trend will hold. The attackers will adapt, reorganize, employ new tools, and be fueled by nation state research and funding, will come back even harder in 2025 and 2026.
Businesses and especially critical infrastructure sectors cannot relax. We must continue to press forward if we want ransomware to be tamed!
Download the Chainalysis report: https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/crypto-crime-ransomware-victim-extortion-2025/