The share of ransomware attacks by the infamous LockBit 3.0 hackers is slowly declining. This is the conclusion of researchers from security specialist ZeroFox in a recent study. A slow decline is also visible in Europe, but it is almost negligible.
According to ZeroFox researchers, the number of ransomware attacks claimed by the notorious hacker gang LockBit 3.0 is declining over the past year. In the third quarter of 2023, this hacker gang still accounted for about 15 percent of the total number of ransomware attacks. In the first quarter of this year, this percentage was still around 29 percent of the total.
Among the reasons for the reduced threat of LockBit 3.0 and its attack technology, the researchers give the emergence of new ransomware gangs. These gangs are more likely to use alternative or homemade ransomware strains.
Europe is still an attractive target
For Europe, the researchers further noted, LockBit 3.0 does remain an important threat when it comes to ransomware. Especially at the beginning of this year, this percentage was high, around 30 percent of the total number of attacks. Meanwhile, this has dropped several percentage points to around 28-29 percent.
The researchers think the decline is the result of the ransomware gang stopping politically inspired attacks due to the war in Ukraine. The focus is again on financially oriented attacks. Also, the ransomware gang is now said to be targeting U.S. companies more often and ignoring European ones.
Also read: LockBit 3.0, the market leader in ransomware
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