The severity of ransomware attacks increased by 68% in the first half of 2024, the report says

Ransomware claims have increased in severity by 68% to an average loss of $353,000, according to a new report from a cyber insurance provider.

The coalition has released its 2024 Cyber ​​Claims Report: Mid-Year Update, which details emerging cyber trends and their impact on policyholders through the first half of 2024.

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The frequency of using ransomware as an attack strategy has halved, but there has been an increase in severity and demand amounts, particularly those associated with Play and BlackSuit ransomware.”

Fund transfer fraud has seen a notable decrease in frequency (2%) and severity (15%), according to the report.

Related: BlackSuit cybercrime gang blamed in CDK hack that rocked car dealerships

The report also reflected an increase in the significant aggregation of cyber risks in the first half of the year. The attacks on Change Healthcare and CDK Global resulted in widespread third-party business disruptions for larger SMBs and mid-sized companies.

Nearly 23 percent of healthcare companies with revenues over $100 million were affected by the Change Healthcare attack, as were 11 percent of those organizations with revenues between $25 million and $100 million. Separately, nearly 75 percent of auto dealers with more than $100 million in revenue were affected by the CDK Global ransomware event, the report notes.

Findings in the report include:

• Ransomware led to a 14% increase in overall complaint severity, with an average loss value of $353,000.
• Business email compromise (BEC) was the main cyber event. BEC frequency increased by 4% and accounted for almost a third of all requests
• FTF continued a steady decline. After nationwide fraud losses reached $10 billion in 2023, initial FTF severity dropped 15% to an average loss of $218,000.
• Exposed login panels tripled a company’s likelihood of attack. Companies using web-accessible applications were 3.1 times more likely to experience a complaint.

The severity of losses among companies with revenues of $100 million and more rose 140 percent during the period to an all-time high, with an average value of losses of $307,000, the report found. Businesses with revenues of $25 million to $100 million rose 23% to an average loss of $129,000, while businesses with revenues of less than $25 million fell 4% to an average of $73,000.