In July of 2021, a new ransomware named BlackMatter emerged and was being advertised in web forums where the group was searching for compromised networks from companies with revenues of $100 million or more per year. Although they are not advertising as a Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS), the fact they are looking for “partners” is an indication that they are operating in this model.

Ransomware is having a bit of a moment. Check Point revealed that ransomware attacks increased 102% globally in H1 2021 compared to the start of the previous year, with the number of corporate ransomware victims having doubled over that same period. Average ransom payments also grew 171% from $115,123 in 2019 to $312,493 a year later. But those weren’t the amounts originally demanded by attackers. Indeed, ransomware actors wanted an average of $847,344 from their victims in 2020.

Manufacturing facilities employ assembly lines, material handling systems, motors, and furnaces that all require big physical machines. Innovative trends in the manufacturing industry and the advancement of operational technology have also meant introducing computers across operation and production systems.

U.S. President Joe Biden is under pressure to take a stand against a relentless pace of cybersecurity attacks. Russian-speaking hackers have claimed accountability for a recent ransomware assault on IT management software provider Kaseya VSA. The group of Russian threat actors also referred to as the Revil Group, launched a bombshell supply-chain hit during the weekend of July 4th, 2021 against Kaseya VSA and multiple managed service providers.

The industry consensus today is that the only way to reliably end the threat of ransomware for good is to stop paying ransoms. Some have even gone so far as to suggest that they should be banned altogether. But because of a lack of public knowledge and transparency, it’s almost impossible to know the full scale of the problem to understand the right solution.