Washington CNN —Cybercriminals extorted a record $1.1 billion in ransom payments from victim organizations around the world last year despite US government efforts to cut off their money flows, crypto-tracking firm Chainalysis said in a report released Wednesday. The surge in ransom payments, which nearly doubled the $567 million by Chainalysis in 2022, coincided with a “major escalation in the frequency, scope, and volume of attacks,” the New York based-firm said. After the FBI announced an operation that thwarted $130 million in ransom payments for several months in 2022, a variety of cybercriminal groups have struck US casinos, hospitals and schools in 2023, and have sometimes collected big payouts. MGM Resorts has estimated its recovery costs from a major ransomware attack last year at $100 million. Multiple US government agencies themselves were hacked by a Russian-speaking ransomware gang, as CNN first reported in July, though there were no reports of ransom payments made by those victims.

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Persons: Washington CNN — Cybercriminals, Chainalysis, Jackie Burns Koven, Biden Organizations: Washington CNN, FBI, CNN, MGM Resorts, Colonial Pipeline, US Treasury, White, Justice Locations: York