Ransomware Extorts $25 Million in Payments over 2 Years

Ransomware Extorts $25 Million in Payments over 2 Years

A team of researchers from New York University (NYU), University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Google estimates that victims of ransomware have paid out more than $25 million over the last two years.

The team, which also included researchers from Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis firm, examined 300,000 files from more than 30 different kinds of ransomware and tracked blockchain payments to estimate the amount and scale of money paid by victims. Their findings are being presented this week at the Black Hat USA 2017 conference.

Danny Yuxing Huang, a Ph.D. candidate in Computer Science and Engineering UCSD and one of the researchers on the project, tracked bitcoins as they moved from potential victims to ransomware operators and from ransomware operators to coin exchanges, perhaps for liquidation.

"By masquerading as a part of the ransomware infrastructure," said Huang in a prepared statement, "I also gathered statistics on infected computers, such as the number of infections over time, and the geographical distribution of infected machines."

Last year was the first year ransomware was a multi-million-dollar industry, according to the researchers, and it wasn't necessarily the most well known ransomware that accounted for that growth.

The WannaCry attack, for example, generated seemingly endless headlines as it froze hospitals and more than 10,000 other organizations out of their own records, but it only pulled in about $140,000, good for the 11th spot on the list of ransomware with the largest payouts.

The researchers also noted that WannaCry wasn't true ransomware, but wipeware, as victims were not able to retrieve their data even after paying the ransom.

Locky and Cerber grabbed fewer headlines than WannaCry, but they're raking in money at $7.8 million and $6.9 million, respectively, in paid ransoms to date.

Locky is also notable for being the first ransomware to generate more than $1 million in monthly payments.

"Locky's big advantage was the decoupling of the people who maintain the ransomware from the people who are infecting machines," said Damon McCoy, assistant professor of computer science at NYU, in a prepared statement. "Locky just focused on building the malware and support infrastructure. Then they had other botnets spread and distribute the malware, which were much better at that end of the business."

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • illustration of a human head with a glowing neural network in the brain, connected to tech icons on a cool blue-gray background

    Meta Introduces Stand-Alone AI App

    Meta Platforms has launched a stand-alone artificial intelligence app built on its proprietary Llama 4 model, intensifying the competitive race in generative AI alongside OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, and xAI.

  • laptop screen with a video play icon, surrounded by parts of notebooks, pens, and a water bottle on a student desk

    Studyfetch AI Tool Generates Video Explanations Based on Course Materials

    AI-powered studying and learning platform Studyfetch has introduced Imagine Explainers, a new video creator that utilizes artificial intelligence to generate 10- to 60-minute explainer videos for any topic.

  • interconnected geometric human figures forming a network

    CoSN: School Staffing Is the Top Hurdle to K-12 Innovation

    Hiring and keeping educators and IT staff remains the top challenge for K-12 education in 2025, according to the latest Driving K-12 Innovation Report from the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN).

  • glowing digital brain made of blue circuitry hovers above multiple stylized clouds of interconnected network nodes against a dark, futuristic background

    Report: 85% of Organizations Are Leveraging AI

    Eighty-five percent of organizations today are utilizing some form of AI, according to the latest State of AI in the Cloud 2025 report from Wiz. While AI's role in innovation and disruption continues to expand, security vulnerabilities and governance challenges remain pressing concerns.