The criminals behind ransomware attacks are becoming dramatically bolder. The average payment demanded in fourth-quarter attacks reached $84,116, more than double the average sum in the third quarter, according to the latest data from Coveware Inc., a Westport, Conn.-based cybersecurity firm that tracks data from cases it has handled.
Worse yet, that average ransom has been rising with frightening speed. Perpetrators extracted an average payment of $6,754 as recently as the fourth quarter of 2018. That number nearly doubled to more than $12,000 in the first quarter last year and then had soared to more than $41,000 by the third quarter. These are dollar averages, but perpetrators typically demand payment in Bitcoin.