Why Is Ransomware on the Rise?
Attacks have become more lucrative and easier to execute thanks to corporate inaction and the growing ransomware industry By Todd Feathers
Two high-profile cyberattacks on critical infrastructure companies over the past month have shone what experts say is a much-needed spotlight on the rising threat of ransomware.
An attack against Colonial Pipeline in May forced the company to temporarily shut down 5,500 miles of pipeline that it said supplies nearly 45 percent of the East Coast’s fuel. Colonial eventually paid the extortionists—a group known as DarkSide—nearly $5 million in Bitcoin. The FBI has since recovered roughly half of the ransom. Colonial confirmed the attack and thanked the FBI for its efforts in a statement.
Just weeks later, another ransomware attack, credited to the group REvil, struck JBS, the world’s largest meat supplier, forcing the company to close plants across the U.S. and Australia and pay approximately $11 million in ransom.
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