A report released this week reveals manufacturing as the top targeted industry for ransomware attacks.

In its new report, Ransomware Threat Landscape 2023: Ransomware Resurgence, Black Kite provides analysis of 2,708 ransomware victims with insights into attacks from April 2022 to March 2023.

The findings reveal a ransomware resurgence in early 2023, with the number of victims in March (410) nearly double that of last April (208) and 1.6 times higher than the peak month in 2022.

“While there were some signs of ransomware decreasing last year due to increased pressure from law enforcement and several ransomware groups shutting down, the last few months serve as a stark reminder that we are far from being in the clear,” said Bob Maley, CSO at Black Kite. “As more ransomware groups exploit vulnerabilities in third-party vendors, businesses will be blindsided unless they continuously monitor their extended ecosystem for susceptibility indicators and the earliest warning signs of risk.”

Other highlights from the report include:

• Ransomware attacks resurged in early 2023, with new players such as Royal, BianLian, and Play ransomware gangs joining the field and major players like Lockbit and Clop executing mass-ransomware attacks.
• The top targeted industries were manufacturing (19.5%), professional, scientific and technical services (15.3%) and educational services (6.1%).
• The United States was the top targeted country, accounting for 43% of victim organizations, followed by the U.K. (5.7%) and Germany (4.4%).
• Ransomware groups tend to target companies with annual revenues of approximately $50M to $60M, with third-party vendors often being targeted for client information extortion.
• The top ransomware groups during the analysis period included Lockbit (29%), AlphaVM (BlackCat) (8.6%) and Black Basta (7.2%).
• Common ransomware susceptibility indicators among victims included poor email configuration, recent credential leaks, public remote access ports, out-of-date systems and IP addresses with botnet activity.
• Encryption-less ransomware is on the rise, underscoring the importance of data protection and regulatory compliance in addition to addressing business interruption risks posed by traditional encryption-based attacks.