Since the beginning of the year, hackers have stolen more than 30 TB of personal and other important data from various companies

Ransomware attacks pose a threat to every business around the world. Since the beginning of this year, hackers have stolen more than 30TB of personal data and other critical information from various businesses in more than 300 attacks, according to the Atlas VPN team. At the same time, only the statistics of a few key regions were taken into account.

Image source: Atlas VPN

The data is based on the European Cybersecurity Agency (ENISA) report – Threat Landscape for Ransomware Attacks, July 2022. The study analyzes 623 ransomware incidents in the EU, UK and US from May 2021 to June 2022, but Atlas VPN only aggregated data from 2022. The data is said to come from government sources, cybersecurity companies, and even “verified sources” on the dark web.

Image source: Atlas VPN

In January, hackers stole 5 TB of data, in February another 7 TB, including NVIDIA. The attackers claimed they stole 1 TB of various data from her and demanded a ransom of $1 million – we’re talking about the Lapsus$ group. In March, 16TB of personal data was stolen, including the corporate network of DENSO, a company that makes auto parts for companies like Toyota and Mercedes-Benz. As a result, the Pandora hacking group posted 1.4 TB of various files on the network. In April, hackers stole another 3 TB, and in May the total amount of stolen data reached 34 TB and remained at the same level until the end of June.

Although many hackers seem to have gone on “vacation”, some ransomware activity remains. In the first half of 2022, 320 ransomware incidents affected organizations. The number of incidents varies greatly from month to month, with the beginning of summer their number also fell significantly. For example, in June there were only 4 significant cases of ransomware attacks in these regions.

Image source: Atlas VPN

The actual number of incidents can be much higher as many companies do not report incidents for fear of reputational damage and sometimes even pay the required ransom.

Ransomware is becoming more and more effective and dangerous. Atlas VPN believes businesses should be prepared for the potential for their most sensitive information to be stolen and leaked onto the internet. Experts recommend increasing the resilience of systems against hacking attacks and always reporting incidents to law enforcement agencies.