Ransomware groups continue to refine their craft, building and scaling business models that resemble legitimate corporate enterprises, according to Rapid7. They market their services to prospective buyers, offer company insiders commissions in exchange for access, and run formal bug bounty programs.
In addition, Rapid7 researchers found three major clusters of ransomware families with similar source code, indicating that ransomware groups are focusing their development efforts on quality over quantity.
“The Ransomware Radar Report uses data to tell the story of how ransomware and the threat actors that wield it are evolving,” said Christiaan Beek, senior director, threat analytics at Rapid7.
“For example, the related source code, combined with a continuing decline in the number of unique ransomware families, suggests a move toward more specialized and highly effective ransomware variants, rather than a broad array of less sophisticated malware,” Beek added.
21 new ransomware groups have surfaced
Within the first six months of 2024, Rapid7 observed 21 new ransomware groups entering the scene. Some groups are brand new, while others are previously known groups rebranding under a new name.
One of the most notable of these new groups, RansomHub, has quickly established itself as a prominent extortion group by making 181 posts to its leak site between February 10 and June 30, 2024.
Each leak site post represents an extortion attempt. The number of ransomware groups actively posting to leak sites is increasing, from an average of 24 groups posting monthly in the first half (1H) of 2023 to 40 per month in 1H 2024. Furthermore, 68 ransomware groups made 2,611 leak site posts between January and June, representing a 23% increase in posts made in 1H 2023.
Smaller organizations have become a more frequent target
In examining the revenue distribution of companies listed within access broker postings, researchers noted that companies with annual revenues of around $5 million are falling victim to ransomware twice as often as those in the $30-50 million range and five times more frequently than those with a $100 million revenue. This finding could suggest that such companies are large enough to hold valuable data but not as well protected as their larger counterparts.