Russian-Speaking Actors Account for $500M Crypto Ransomware in 2023
TRM Labs, a blockchain intelligence and analytics firm, says that 69% of the crypto ransomware attacks accounting to $500,000,000 were done by Russian-speaking actors. Asia is leading in scams and investment frauds right now with North Korea being the country with the most data breaching and billions of dollars being stolen due to it in 2023. However, Russia is dominating in all kinds of malicious activities, including ransomware attacks including cryptocurrency.
In its report, TRM says that most Russian speaking actors are involved in cyber crimes related to crypto. The cybercriminals infiltrate the system and demand ransom if the companies do not want them to steal and delete their data. Many ransomware actors like Clop, PLAY, Lockbit, ALPHV/BlackCat, Black Basta and Akira are involved in this and all of them are Russian-speaking. RansomHub is a new ransomware gang but it has quickly become the strongest and largest.
The total ransomware payments amount to $500 million in 2023, while ALPHV and LockBit collected $320 million approximately. Illicit items and services on the Russian language darknet market which makes 95% of the sales globally. In 2023, the Russian market got $1.4 billion in sales while the Western market accounted for $100 million.
Russia is also responsible for a lot of money laundering with 82% of cryptocurrency handled by illegal groups there. Most of this cryptocurrency is used to purchase military equipment from sanctioned Chinese manufacturers to be used by Russians in Ukraine, TRM reports. About $85,000,000 were said to be sent from Russia to China since the war in Ukraine started.
The experts believe that this much involvement of Russians in cybercrimes is due to various reasons like their historical, normative and regulatory issues. This is why many Russians who are skilled in technology are choosing this path and attacking different firms for ransom. Russia is also politically isolated from Western countries so it is hard to track, disrupt and arrest criminals who are operating from Russia. If no measure is taken soon, the number of cybercrimes can increase with no one to stop them
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