This report is based on a comprehensive database that was collected from the
websites of 21 ransomware groups. These groups were involved in exfiltrating data
from a total of1,112 companies, located in 63 countries. We focused on ransomware
activity that occurred during 2020, when the ransomware groups started to publish
stolen data on their dedicated platforms. As will be elaborated below, the collection
of data, its analysis and classification has been done manually.
We selected the groups based on the frequency of cyber threat intelligence published
on the Dark Web and included updated links to websites of current and new active
groups. The manual collection of data stolen by the ransomware groups involved
accessing all their websites, which are mostly located in the Darknet. A few of the
websites were inaccessible or have been taken down and we used different tools to
successfully access their archived Darknet pages. This unique combination of manual
and automated data gathering, provided a comprehensive picture of all relevant
groups, including ones that stopped their activity during 2020, for example, “Maze”.
Following the collection of all the victims’ details from the ransomware groups’
websites, we analyzed the data by checking each victim and verifying the accuracy
of the information published by the cybercriminals. This process was necessary, as
some groups published inaccurate names and some only published the URL of the
victim’s website. We took the analysis a step further by classifying each victim by
country and industry. While some groups published the location of their victims, not
all of them did. This required manually finding out and verifying the headquarters
or head offices of the victims. With regards to industry classification, we used 18
key industries (see appendix A). In addition, as some groups published their activity
online, we were able to build a timeline of publication dates that helped us to shed
some more light on the timing of the attacks.
1.1 METHODOLOGY
1.2 DATA COLLECTION
1.3 ANALYSIS AND CLASSIFICATION
5 | The Ransomware Landscape