Carbon Black, the leader in next-generation endpoint security, today announced the release of: “The Ransomware Economy: How and Why the Dark Web Marketplace for Ransomware Is Growing at a Rate of More Than 2,500 Percent Per Year.”
However, the ransomware economy on the dark web is growing in line with the huge increase in ransomware attacks being reported globally.
As reported in Digital Journal in September, ransomware attacks are now a “global epidemic,” according to an 80-page Europol report that says the attacks are taking over computers as well as Internet-linked devices like routers and CCTV cameras to turn them into tools for criminals.
The dark truth
The Carbon Black Threat Analysis Unit (TAU), found over 6,300 dark web marketplaces selling ransomware, with over 45,000 current product listings. The prices ranged from about $1.00 for a basic screen locker for targeting Android devices to over $3,000 for a “custom-built” ransomware product. However, it seems the median price was about $10.50.
Ransomware has become a lucrative tool for cyber criminals
The lucrative thing about ransomware is it’s relatively cheap cost and ease of use. But strangely, a large percentage of victims are willing to give into the ransom demands of criminals in order to regain access to their systems.
Payments are usually requested in Bitcoin, using the anonymity network, The Onion Router, better known as TOR, to mask illicit activities. According to the FBI, ransomware extorted about $1 billion in 2016.
But as Carbon Black researchers are pointing out, a whole other economy has been formed on the dark web. Ransomware vendors are making more than $100,000 a year, simply by selling ransomware, and some are even specializing in one specific area of the supply chain. And you can bet they aren’t paying taxes.
“They are pulling in these salaries by selling one of several components of the ransomware supply chain or by selling complete, do-it-yourself, ransomware kits,” Rick McElroy, Security Strategist at Carbon Black told ZDNet. “The overall ransomware economy is expanding into goods and service, much like the regular markets we participate in during our daily lives”.
Carbon Black also warns that the ransomware economy and cybercrimes will continue to grow. “We don’t expect the ransomware market to slow down until businesses and consumers take the threat seriously. As long as there’s money to be made, cybercriminals will keep attacking,” says McElroy.
