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“2024 continues to break new records, with March being no exception with a total of 59 attacks, the highest in 4 years, and a 110% increase over 2023. Unreported attacks also remained strong with 356 attacks and a ratio of 603%, similar to last month. This indicates that 6 times as many attacks go unreported.

March also saw some big sector changes, with government attacks increasing by a massive 100%, and healthcare by 76%, now both leading the way with a total of 30 each. Our leading sector last month, education, increased by 35% and now sits in third place, while manufacturing increased 33% with a total of 27 attacks.

From a variant perspective, LockBit continues as the dominant ransomware variant with 25.8%, followed by BlackCat with 14.2%, little change from the previous month. We do however see some large changes in unreported variants this month, which is typically a leading indicator for reported attacks in later months. This month we saw Black Basta and Hunters grow by 80% and 49% respectively, while 8Base grew by 39%.

Lastly, data exfiltration is now involved in 92% of all attacks. As the primary goal of all attacks, data exfiltration ensures that attackers can threaten and sell victims data for years to come, regardless of whether payments are made or not. This month we also see China and Russia dominate as the leading destinations for exfiltrated data with 18% and 8% respectively.”