6 October 2024

Ransomware incidents hit 117 countries in 2023, task force says

Jonathan Greig

More than 6,500 ransomware attacks were recorded in 2023, touching a record number of 117 countries across the globe after a brief dip in 2022.

There was a 73% year-over-year increase in attacks to 6,670 ransomware incidents, with notable spikes in June and July due to the exploitation of a popular file transfer tool.

The numbers were compiled by the Ransomware Task Force, which was organized in 2021 by the nonprofit Institute for Security and Technology and is a public/private consortium made up of cybersecurity experts, government officials and more.

In its annual report covering 2023, the organization used data from eCrime.ch, which aggregates messages posted on data leak sites as its primary source of information.

The task force found at least 117 countries experienced ransomware incidents launched by 66 different groups. For 2022, the numbers were slightly lower at 105 countries and 58 ransomware gangs.

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