U.S. companies made more than $2 billion in ransomware payments between 2022 and 2024, nearly equaling the total ransoms paid in the previous nine years, according to a new report from the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The report, which looked at threat pattern and trend information identified in Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) filings, said that between Jan. 1, 2022 and Dec. 31, 2024, FinCEN received 7,395 BSA reports related to 4,194 ransomware incidents and totaling more than $2.1 billion in ransomware payments. In the previous nine years, from 2013 to 2021, FinCEN received 3,075 BSA reports totaling approximately $2.4 billion in ransomware payments, the report said. FinCEN notes that because its data is based on BSA filings, it is by nature incomplete, and indeed, the 4,194 ransomware incidents recorded by FinCEN between 2022 and 2024 is less than 40% of the nearly 11,000 ransomware attacks recorded in Cyble’s threat intelligence data over the same period.

ALPHV/BlackCat and LockBit Enforcement Actions Lowered Ransomware Payments

Ransomware incidents and payments reported to FinCEN reached an all-time high in 2023 of 1,512 incidents totaling approximately $1.1 billion in payments, an increase of 77 percent in payments from 2022. In 2024, incidents decreased slightly to 1,476 while total payments dropped to approximately $734 million. FinCEN attributed the decline in ransomware payments in 2024 to law enforcement disruption of the ALPHV/BlackCat and LockBit ransomware groups. However, LockBit is in the midst of its most significant comeback since the law enforcement actions disrupted the group, with 21 new victims claimed so far this month. Of the 267 ransomware variants identified during the reporting period, the most common variants were Akira, ALPHV/BlackCat, LockBit, Phobos, and Black Basta. However, Qilin has emerged as the top ransomware group in 2025 by a wide margin, so FinCEN’s 2025 BSA data will almost certainly change. Despite the decline in payments, the value of reported ransomware payments in 2024 was still the third-highest yearly total since the reports began in 2013. The median ransomware payment was $124,097 in 2022, $175,000 in 2023, and $155,257 in 2024. Between January 2022 and December 2024, the most common payment range was below $250,000.

Financial Services, Manufacturing and Healthcare Most Targeted Sectors

Measuring both the number of ransomware incidents and the amount of aggregate payments, the financial services, manufacturing and healthcare industries were the most affected during the report period. Between January 2022 and December 2024, the most commonly targeted industries by number of incidents identified in ransomware-related BSA reports were manufacturing (456 incidents), financial services (432 incidents), healthcare (389 incidents), retail (337 incidents), and legal services (334 incidents). Industries that paid the most in ransoms during the three-year period were financial services (approximately $365.6 million), healthcare (about $305.4 million), manufacturing (approximately $284.6 million), science and technology (about $186.7 million), and retail ($181.3 million). The Onion router (TOR) was the most common communication method used by ransomware groups. About 42 percent of BSA reports indicated the method that ransomware threat actors used to communicate with their targets. Among those reports, 67 percent indicated that ransomware actors used TOR, while 28 percent indicated that ransomware actors used email to communicate with their victims. Bitcoin (BTC) was the most common ransomware-related payment method, accounting for 97 percent of reported payments. Monero (XMR) was cited in two percent of BSA reports involving ransomware. FinCEN also identified several common money laundering typologies used by ransomware groups. Threat actors overwhelmingly collected payments in unhosted convertible virtual currency (CVC) wallets and “continued to exploit CVC exchanges for money laundering purposes after receiving payment,” the report said. Ransomware groups also used “several common preferred malicious cyber facilitators, such as shared initial access vendors,” FinCEN said.

Akira ransomware is exploiting MFA push-spam, weak VPN security and identity gaps. Learn why these attacks succeed and the counter-playbook defenders must deploy now.

The post The Akira Playbook: How Ransomware Groups Are Weaponizing MFA Fatigue  appeared first on Security Boulevard.

The Akira ransomware group poses an “imminent threat to critical infrastructure,” the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warned today. CISA joined with the FBI, other U.S. agencies and international counterparts to issue a lengthy updated advisory on the ransomware group, adding many new Akira tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs), indicators of compromise (IoCs), and vulnerabilities exploited by the group. Akira is consistently one of the most active ransomware groups, so the update from CISA and other agencies is significant. As of late September, Akira has netted about $244.17 million in ransom payments, CISA said. The Akira ransomware group information was sourced from “FBI investigations and trusted third-party reporting,” the agency said. In a busy two days for the agency, CISA also added three vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog (CVE-2025-9242, a WatchGuard Firebox Out-of-Bounds Write vulnerability, CVE-2025-12480, a Gladinet Triofox Improper Access Control vulnerability, and CVE-2025-62215, a Microsoft Windows Race Condition vulnerability), and reissued orders to federal agencies to patch Cisco vulnerabilities CVE-2025-20333 and CVE-2025-20362.

Akira Ransomware Group Targets Vulnerabilities for Initial Access

The CISA Akira advisory notes that in a June 2025 incident, Akira encrypted Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV) virtual machine (VM) disk files for the first time, expanding the ransomware group’s abilities beyond VMware ESXi and Hyper-V by abusing CVE-2024-40766, a SonicWall vulnerability. The updated advisory adds six new vulnerabilities exploited by Akira threat actors for initial access, including:

• CVE-2020-3580, a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD)
• CVE-2023-28252, a Windows Common Log File System Driver Elevation of Privilege vulnerability
• CVE-2024-37085, a VMware ESXi authentication bypass vulnerability
• CVE-2023-27532, a Veeam Missing Authentication for Critical Function vulnerability
• CVE-2024-40711, a Veeam Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability
• CVE-2024-40766, a SonicWall Improper Access Control vulnerability

“Akira threat actors gain access to VPN products, such as SonicWall, by stealing login credentials or exploiting vulnerabilities like CVE-2024-40766,” the CISA advisory said. In some cases, they gain initial access with compromised VPN credentials, possibly by using initial access brokers or brute-forcing VPN endpoints. The group also uses password spraying techniques and tools such as SharpDomainSpray to gain access to account credentials. Akira threat actors have also gained initial access through the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol by exploiting a router’s IP address. “After tunneling through a targeted router, Akira threat actors exploit publicly available vulnerabilities, such as those found in the Veeam Backup and Replication component of unpatched Veeam backup servers,” the advisory said.

Akira’s Latest Discovery, Persistence and Evasion Tactics

Visual Basic (VB) scripts are frequently used by the group to execute malicious commands, and nltest /dclist: and nltest /DOMAIN_TRUSTS are used for network and domain discovery. Akira threat actors abuse remote access tools such as AnyDesk and LogMeIn for persistence and to “blend in with administrator activity,” and Impacket is used to execute the remote command wmiexec.py and obtain an interactive shell. Akira threat actors also uninstall endpoint detection and response (EDR) systems to evade detection. In one incident, Akira threat actors bypassed Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) file protection by powering down the domain controller’s VM and copying the VMDK files to a newly created VM, CISA said. “This sequence of actions enabled them to extract the NTDS.dit file and the SYSTEM hive, ultimately compromising a highly privileged domain administrator’s account,” the advisory said. Veeam.Backup.MountService.exe has also been used for privilege escalation (CVE-2024-40711), and AnyDesk, LogMeIn, RDP, SSH and MobaXterm have been used for lateral movement. Akira actors have used tunneling utilities such as Ngrok for command and control (C2) communications, initiating encrypted sessions that bypass perimeter monitoring. PowerShell and Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line (WMIC) have also been used to disable services and execute malicious scripts. Akira threat actors have been able to exfiltrate data in just over two hours from initial access, CISA said. The new Akira_v2 variant appends encrypted files with an .akira or .powerranges extension, or with .akiranew or .aki. A ransom note named fn.txt or akira_readme.txt appears in both the root directory (C:) and each user’s home directory (C:\Users). CISA recommended a number of security best practices for combatting the Akira ransomware threat, including prioritizing remediating known exploited vulnerabilities, enforcing phishing-resistant multifactor authentication (MFA), and maintaining regular, tested offline backups of critical data.

Ransomware attacks soared 30% in October to the second-highest total on record, Cyble reported today. The 623 ransomware attacks recorded in October were second only to February 2025’s record attacks, when a CL0P MFT campaign drove the total number of ransomware attacks to 854. October was the sixth consecutive monthly increase in ransomware attacks, Cyble noted in a blog post. Qilin once again was the most active ransomware group, for the sixth time in the seven months since the decline of RansomHub. Qilin’s 210 claimed victims were three times greater than second-place Akira (chart below). Just behind Akira was Sinobi with 69 victims, a remarkable rise for a group that first emerged in July. [caption id="attachment_106750" align="aligncenter" width="624"] Top ransomware groups October 2025 (Cyble)[/caption] Construction, Professional Services, Healthcare, Manufacturing, IT and Energy/Utilities were the most targeted sectors (chart below). [caption id="attachment_106751" align="aligncenter" width="624"] Ransomware attacks by industry October 2025 (Cyble)[/caption] Cyble noted that 31 incidents in October may have affected critical infrastructure, and another 26 incidents had possible supply chain implications. The U.S. once again was the most attacked country, its 361 attacks 10 times greater than second-place Canada (chart below). [caption id="attachment_106753" align="aligncenter" width="624"] Ransomware attacks by country October 2025 (Cyble)[/caption] “Of concern is the emergence of Australia as a top five target, as the country’s rich resources and high per-capita GDP have made the country a rich target for threat actors,” Cyble noted. Ransomware attacks are up 50% so far this year, with 5,194 ransomware attacks through October 31, Cyble said, “as new leaders like Qilin, Sinobi and The Gentlemen have more than made up for the decline of former leaders such as LockBit and RansomHub.”

Vulnerabilities Exploited by Ransomware Groups

Critical IT vulnerabilities and unpatched internet-facing assets have fueled a rise in both ransomware and supply chain attacks this year, Cyble said. Vulnerabilities targeted in October included:

• CVE-2025-61882 in Oracle E-Business Suite – targeted by Cl0p
• CVE-2025-10035 in GoAnywhere MFT – exploited by Medusa
• CVE-2021-43226 a Microsoft Windows Privilege Escalation vulnerability – Exploited by unknown ransomware groups, according to a CISA advisory
• CVE-2025-6264 in Velociraptor – targeted by Warlock ransomware operators
• CVE‑2024‑1086 in the Linux kernel’s netfilter :nf_tables module – Exploited by unknown ransomware groups, according to a CISA advisory

Ransomware Attacks and Key Developments

Below were some of the most important ransomware developments in October, according to Cyble. Ransomware operators are “increasingly hijacking or silently installing legitimate remote access tools” such as AnyDesk, RustDesk, Splashtop, and TightVNC after credential compromise to gain persistent access, control, antivirus neutralization and ransomware delivery. Recent BlackSuit campaigns used Vishing to steal VPN credentials for initial access and DCSync on a domain controller for high-privilege access, and used AnyDesk and a custom RAT for persistence. “Other measures included wiping forensic traces with CCleaner, and using Ansible to deploy BlackSuit ransomware across ESXi hosts, encrypting hundreds of VMs and causing major operational disruption,” Cyble said. Qilin affiliates deployed a Linux-based ransomware binary on Windows machines by abusing remote-management tools like WinSCP, Splashtop, AnyDesk, and ScreenConnect, and leveraging BYOVD (Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver) attacks, among other tools and tactics. Trigona ransomware operators brute-forced exposed MS-SQL servers and embedded malware inside database tables and exporting it to disk to install payloads. DragonForce posted on the RAMP cybercrime forum that it is opening its partner program to the public, offering services like professional file analysis/audit, hash decryption, call support, and free victim storage. Registration requires a $500 non-refundable fee. Affiliates were warned to follow the group’s rules “or face account blocking or free decryptor distribution.” Zeta88 — the alleged operator of The Gentlemen ransomware — announced updates to their Windows, Linux and ESXi lockers, including a silent mode for Windows that encrypts without renaming files and preserves timestamps, and self-spread capabilities across networks and domains. The release also introduced multiple encryption-speed modes, Windows operating modes, and a universal decryptor. The full Cyble blog also included recommended best practices and recent high-confidence Qilin indicators of compromise (IoCs).

Ransomware attacks have soared 50% in 2025 despite major changes among the leading ransomware groups, according to a new Cyble report. Through October 21, there have been 5,010 ransomware attacks claimed by ransomware groups on their dark web data leak sites, up from 3,335 in the same period of 2024, according to a Cyble blog post. “From the decline of RansomHub to the rise of Qilin and newcomers like Sinobi and The Gentlemen, ransomware group leadership has been in flux for much of 2025, but affiliates have been quick to find new opportunities, and a steady supply of critical vulnerabilities has helped fuel attacks,” Cyble said. The threat intelligence company noted that its new threat landscape report (registration required) also documents record data breaches and supply chain attacks, as the cyber landscape has become more dangerous in general this year.

Qilin Led All Ransomware Groups Once Again

September marked the fifth consecutive monthly increase in ransomware attacks, and Qilin led all ransomware groups for the fifth time in six months, as the group has solidified its leadership in the wake of RansomHub's decline. In all, ransomware groups claimed 474 victims in September, up slightly from August (chart below). That’s well below February’s record, “yet still among the highest monthly ransomware attack totals on record,” Cyble said. [caption id="attachment_106294" align="aligncenter" width="723"] Ransomware attacks by month 2021-2025 (Cyble)[/caption] The U.S. remains by far the biggest target for ransomware groups, with its 259 victims accounting for nearly 55% of attacks in September (chart below). Germany, France, Canada, Spain, Italy and the UK remain consistent targets, but South Korea emerged a new major target, in second place behind the U.S. with 32 attacks, largely due to one campaign by Qilin. [caption id="attachment_106292" align="aligncenter" width="936"] Ransomware attacks by country September 2025 (Cyble)[/caption] Of the 32 South Korean attacks recorded in September, 29 came from Qilin’s “KoreanLeak” campaign that targeted asset management companies in the country. Cyble noted that “One of the asset management firms said its systems were impacted through a ransomware attack on its IT management provider, indicating a possible supply chain compromise affecting multiple firms simultaneously.” The campaign also made South Korea by far the most attacked country in the APAC region in September, well ahead of India, Thailand and Taiwan. Qilin’s South Korean campaign made Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) the third most attacked sector in September, behind Construction and Manufacturing and ahead of Professional Services, IT and Healthcare (chart below). [caption id="attachment_106296" align="aligncenter" width="936"] Ransomware attacks by sector September 2025 (Cyble)[/caption]

The Emergence of The Gentlemen Ransomware Group

Qilin led all ransomware groups with 99 claimed victims, 40 ahead of second-place Akira (chart below). [caption id="attachment_106298" align="aligncenter" width="936"] Top ransomware groups September 2025 (Cyble)[/caption] The emergence of The Gentlemen was a noteworthy development, a new group that has claimed 46 victims to date. “The group’s use of custom tools targeting specific security vendors and the geographic diversity of its targets ... suggests that the group may have the resources to become an enduring threat,” Cyble said. The full Cyble blog detailed 11 significant ransomware incidents in September, including some with supply chain implications, and also included recommendations for defenders.