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It was anotherrecord - breakingyear for ransomware . When file - locking malware was n’t causing widespread disruption , like downing online overhaul and lasting outages , ransomware was the causal agency of unprecedented data point theft flack affect 100 of millions of the great unwashed , in some casing for life .
While governments have excise some rare wins against ransomware hackers over the past 12 months , include thedisruption of the prolific LockBit gangand theseizure and takedown of Radar , these data theft and extortion attacks go forward to increase dramatically , both in term of frequency and sophistication .
We look back at some of the most notable ransomware attacks of 2024 .
January
LoanDepot
Mortgage and loan whale LoanDepotsaid at the startle of the yearthat it had been hit by a cyberattack involving the “ encoding of datum , ” or ransomware . The attackleft customers ineffectual to access score information or submit payments , and forced the Florida - ground company to “ exclude down sure systems . ” week later , LoanDepot said that the personal data ofmore than 16 million individualswere compromised .
Fulton County
The notorious LockBit ransomware gang lay claim a January cyberattack on Fulton County , the largest county in Georgia with a population over one million . The approach led to hebdomad of county - wide disruption , including IT outages affecting earphone lines , the courts , and taxation systems . LockBit published trove of data from the Georgia county , include “ secret document , ” but subsequently removed these title from its dark web escape website , which can be an denotation that the victim pay the cyber-terrorist a ransom . While the LockBit work party claim Fulton County had paid , security measures expertsreckon that LockBit likely lose most of the datait had slip when thegang ’s server were subsequently seize the following monthby U.S. and U.K. police force enforcement .
Southern Water
U.K. service program giant Southern Watersaid early in the twelvemonth that it was investigatinga data theft incident , before weekslater confirmingthat ransomware hackers had stolen the personal data of more than 470,000 customers . The attack on Southern Water , which provides water and wastewater services to millions of people across the south - east of England , was take by the Black Basta ransomware radical , a Russia - linked gang that antecedently assume credit entry meeting place 2023 hack on U.K. outsourcing jumbo Capita .
February
Change Healthcare
February sawone of the biggest data point breachesof the twelvemonth — and by far the largest data breach of U.S. health and medical information in history . UnitedHealth - owned health technical school companyChange Healthcare was hacked by the ALPHV ransomware work party , which at the clip claim to have stolen “ millions ” of Americans ’ sensitive health and patient information . Change Healthcare reportedly ante up $ 22 million to ALPHV before the bunch vanished in March , only for the ALPHV declarer who carry out the hackto demand a second ransom paymentfrom alteration .
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UnitedHealth conceded in April that the hack led toa data breach dissemble a “ substantial dimension of people in America . ”It was n’t until October that UnitedHealthconfirmed that at least 100 million peoplewere affected by the data breach , which include sensitive data point include aesculapian record and health selective information , though the precise number of affected individual is expected to be far higher .
March
Omni Hotels
Hotel chain Omni Hotels & Resorts keep out down its systems in previous March after describe hackers on its connection , leading to far-flung outages across Omni ’s attribute , including sound and Wi - Fi issues . In April , the hotel giantconfirmedthat cybercriminals stole the personal information of its customer during the March ransomware attack , which wasclaimed by the prolific Daixin mob . Accordingto reports , this pack claimed to have steal 3.5 million Omni customer record .
June
Evolve Bank
U.S.-based banking - as - a - divine service giant Evolve Bank was the target ofa ransomware attack in Junethat had far-flung effect on Evolve ’s banking client and the fintech inauguration that relied on the bank , includingWiseandMercury . The LockBit mob arrogate reference for the attack on Evolve , with the gang posting data it claimed to have stolen from Evolve on its dark entanglement passing water site . In July , Evolve corroborate that the cyberpunk had obtained the personal data point of at least 7.6 million people , including customers ’ Social Security telephone number , bank account number , and contact entropy .
Synnovis
The NHS was forced to adjudge a vital incident in June aftera ransomware attackon a major pathology military service supplier , Synnovis . The cyberattack led to set off operations and the deviation of hand brake patients , and also discover the NHS issue a home appeal for “ O ” blood - type grouping donorsin the weeks that followedbecause of postponement in matching blood to patient role as a result of the workweek - long outage . The Qilin ransomware gang claimed responsibility for the attempt and eventually leak out 400 gigabytes of sensitive data point allegedly steal from Synnovis , oraround 300 million patient role interactionsdating back years , making itone of the largest ransomware onrush of the yr .
July
Columbus, Ohio
Some 500,000 house physician of the City of Columbus , Ohio ’s state capital , had their personal datastolenduring a July ransomware attack , include name , dates of birth , computer address , government - supply recognition document , Social Security numbers , and bank building account detail . Rhysida , the cybercrime gang responsible for for last year’sdevastating cyberattack on the British Library , claimed responsibility for the attack against Columbus in August , say it had stolen 6.5 TB of data from the urban center .
September
Transport for London
Transport for London , the politics body manage the U.K. chapiter ’s public passage organisation , experiencedweeks of digital disruption comply a cyberattackon the authority ’s corporate web in September that was afterward claimed by the infamous Russia - connect Clop ransomware group . While the London transit electronic internet continued operating without issue , the incident nevertheless resulted inthe larceny of banking datum on some 5,000 customers — and squeeze the passage authority to manually readjust the login word of every exclusive one of its 30,000 employees in - person .
October
Casio
Nipponese electronics giant Casio was the dupe of an October cyberattack , confirmingto TechCrunch that the incident was ransomware . The cyberattack , which was claimed by the Underground ransomware gang , rendered several of Casio ’s systems “ unusable,”causing week of delays to product shipments . The flack also interpret the theft of personal data belonging to Casio employees , contractors , and business partners , along with sensitive company information including bill and human resources files . Casio said the hackers also accessed “ info about some customers , ” but did not say how many were affected .
November
Blue Yonder
A Novemberransomware onslaught on Blue Yonder , one of the world ’s large providers of supply chain software system , had a smash - on outcome at several major U.S. and U.K. retailer . Two of the U.K. ’s magnanimous supermarket chain of mountains , Morrisons and Sainsbury ’s , corroborate to TechCrunch that they had go through disruption as a outcome of the ransomware fire , and U.S. coffee bean behemoth Starbucks was also affected , forcing store managers to pay staff manually . Blue Yonder has articulate little about the incident , let in whether any data point was stolen , butboth the Clop ransomware gangand the young Termite crewclaims it has steal 680 gigabytes of datafrom the supply string giant society , including documents , report , insurance documents , and email lean .
December
NHS Hospitals
Several NHS facilities were interrupt ( again ) by ransomware in December after a fertile Russia - linked ransomware gang dubbed Inc Ransomclaimedto have compromised Alder Hey Children ’s Hospital Trust , one of Europe ’s big children ’s hospitals . The Russian ransomware pack , which similarly breacheda major NHS trust in Scotland sooner this year , claim it obtained Alder Hey patient records and bestower reports , along with data from several other infirmary in the nearby country . Separately , the Wirral University Teaching Hospital — another NHS emplacement not far from Alder Hey — was force to adjudge a critical incident after also falling dupe to ransomware .
Artivion
December stay to be the month for healthcare - targeted attacks , as Artivion , a medical gimmick company that manufactures implantable tissues for cardiac transplanting , this monthconfirmeda “ cybersecurity incident ” that involved the “ acquisition and encryption ” of data — which reads as ransomware . Artivion said it took sure system offline in response to the cyberattack .
