In 2023, hackers managed to extract over $1 billion dollars using ransomware, according to the 'Crypto Crime Report 2024' published by analysis firm Chainalysis.
These malicious programs hold personal data from businesses and communities to ransom, only releasing the information in exchange for significant sums of money.
Several hospitals in Belgium have already fallen victim to such attacks.
The billion-dollar figure does not include the economic impact of these data hostage situations.
Businesses often find themselves unable to work for several days due to the cyberattack, incurring substantial costs to restore their IT systems. When a ransom is paid, it is usually done so in anonymous cryptocurrencies.
