Ransomware payments reached record $1.1 billion in 2023

Ransomware payments climbed to a record-breaking $1.1 billion in 2023 driven by large-scale attacks on major institutions and critical infrastructure—particularly Clop's MOVEit campaign—and by prolific groups such as ALPHV/BlackCat, LockBit, Play, and others; the landscape shifted toward "big game hunting," use of zero-day vulnerabilities and data exfiltration, and sophisticated laundering through mixers and permissive exchanges despite increased law-enforcement disruption.