Ransomware Appears to be in Decline, but Don’t Lower your Guard

January 17, 2023 – Published on HIPAA Journal

While it is difficult to obtain accurate data on the number of ransomware attacks being conducted on healthcare organizations, the available data suggest there has been a decline in attacks across all industry sectors compared to the high number of attacks reported in 2021.

The survey was conducted by Censuswide on behalf of Delinea on 300 IT decision-makers across a broad range of industries in the United States, with the responses suggesting there has been a 60% decline in attacks between 2021 and 2022. In 2021, the survey revealed 64% of organizations had experienced a ransomware attack in the past 12 months, compared to 25% of organizations in 2022.

In 2021, the Conti ransomware operation was the major ransomware player, but in early 2022 the group was disbanded, with its members moving to smaller ransomware operations. While these groups are conducting many attacks, Delinea suggests the shutdown of this large ransomware operation may explain, in part, the decline in attacks. According to GuidePoint Security, there was a 53% decline in attacks by the two main ransomware gangs – Conti and LockBit – last year, yet overall attacks only decreased by around 7%.

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