Ransomware has quickly grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry, forcing a shift in how cybersecurity is approached, including the development of solutions such as Mandiant Threat Intelligence.

In the last five years, as profits for cybercriminals have soared, their operations have become more sophisticated, drawing more players into this expanding threat landscape, according to Brett Callow (pictured), managing director at FTI Consulting Inc.

FTI Consulting’s Brett Callow talks with theCUBE about Mandiant Threat Intelligence.

“In 2019, the average ransom demand was 5,000 bucks and small businesses and home users were most victims. Today, it’s become a multi-billion dollar industry,” Callow said. “We see huge multinationals effectively being totally knocked offline. We see healthcare systems, entire healthcare systems of multiple hospitals being knocked offline. So ransomware now has morphed from being a small-scale operation to something that does put lives at risk.”

Callow spoke with theCUBE Research’s John Furrier and Savannah Peterson at mWISE 2024, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the rise of ransomware, its increasing profitability and the challenges in accurately assessing and combating ransomware threats. (* Disclosure below.)

How Mandiant Threat Intelligence is helping tackle ransomware threats

Ransomware incidents have become more frequent and severe, according to Callow. This escalation is pushing organizations to pursue both preventive measures and post-attack support.

“For example, an insurer saw a 15% increase in the frequency of incidents from ’22 to ’23,” he said. “I think 28% increase in the severity of incident. And by severity I mean the amount of disruption and the amount of [ransom].”

The current threat of AI in cybersecurity is overhyped and not particularly alarming at this time. Significant progress is needed in combating ransomware by increasing risks for cybercriminals and disrupting their funding, though current efforts remain insufficient, Callow concluded.

“To combat ransomware, you need to either increase the risk to the cyber criminals, or decrease the rewards, or do both,” he said. “So we need to find more ways to actually get hands on those who are responsible to arrest more people, to interrupt and disrupt the flow of funds. And we need to do far more of that than we have done. Thankfully things are changing to a degree.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE Research’s coverage of mWISE 2024:

(* Disclosure: mWISE sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither mWISE nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE