- FBI report reveals a serious rise in ransomware in 2024
- Ransomware attacks rose 9% in 2024
- Cryptocurrency fraud also claimed more victims than ever
The FBI has released a report outlining just how costly ransomware attacks were in 2024, with attacks once again rising to claim more victims than ever.
Complaints about attacks rose 9% in 2024, and were even more expensive for victims, costing a record $16.6 billion – a 33% increase from 2023. Worryingly, critical infrastructure accounted for almost half of all ransomware complaints received, most likely a reflection of rising geopolitical tensions leading to state-sponsored and politically motivated attacks.
Critical infrastructure is the latest target for cybercriminals, as it provides key services and downtime is both costly and dangerous, meaning firms are often more likely to pay ransomware gangs to unlock their data or systems.
A staggering amount
The FBI’s report also shows almost 200,000 complaints were received for phishing/spoofing attacks, and a further 85,000 were filed in relation to extortion incidents.
Cyber-enabled fraud accounted for a huge 83% of all losses reported in 2024, representing a serious but well-established shift in tactics to digital crime.
“These rising losses are even more concerning because last year, the FBI took significant actions to make it harder, and more costly, for malicious actors to succeed,” explained B. Chad Yarbrough, the FBI’s operations director for criminal and cyber.
“We dealt a serious blow to LockBit, one of the world’s most active ransomware groups. Since 2022, we have offered up thousands of decryption keys to victims of ransomware, avoiding over $800 million in payments.”
The report also points to a serious rise in cryptocurrency losses, reaching $9.3 billion – up 66% from 2023.
The FBI received almost 150,000 complaints of cryptocurrency scams, most prevalent was fraudulent investment schemes, a theme we have seen in recent years with thousands of fake cryptocurrency sites set up to trap users in fake reward schemes.
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