Cy-Xplorer 2024

Your companion for traversing the cyber extortion threat landscape.

Whilst commonly referred to as Ransomware, we define “Cyber Extortion” (Cy-X) as a form of computer crime in which the security of a digital asset (Confidentiality, Integrity, or Availability) is compromised and exploited in a threat of some form to extort payment.

Astonishing key facts from the report:

• The problem continues to grow: The number of observable victims has grown 77% over the past 12 months, with 60 distinct threat actors responsible for 4,374 victims over that period.

• The problem is bigger than we think: Our analysis of the data emerging from recent Law Enforcement efforts against Cy-X operations suggests that the actual number of victims is at least 50% higher than the observable incidents we have recorded thus far.

• The problem is universal: We assess that 75% of all countries in the world have had businesses directly impacted by Cy-X since 2020. We have also recorded victims in each of the 20 industries classified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Businesses of every size are also impacted. Small businesses are impacted by Cy-X 4.2x more often than medium and large businesses combined