The ransomware economy is shifting toward straight-up data extortion

Ransomware remains a scourge that shows some signs of relenting, but incident responders and threat hunters are busier than ever as more financially-motivated attackers lean exclusively on data theft for extortion.

Attacks that only involve data theft for extortion may not be more prevalent than traditional ransomware when attackers encrypt systems, but momentum is moving in that direction, Genevieve Stark, head of cybercrime intelligence at Google Threat Intelligence Group, told CyberScoop.

“When you look at the actors in the English-speaking underground, those actors are almost all just focusing on data-theft extortion right now,” Stark added. This includes groups like Scattered Spider, ShinyHunters, Clop and other groups that have been responsible for some of the largest and farthest-reaching attacks over the past few years.

Read more at CyberScoop