Ransomware attacks on the rise in France

Group-IB reports a 45% increase in French businesses suffering data leak due to ransomware attacks in 2023. 

In its yearly Hi-Tech Crime Trends 2023/2024 report, published in early March 2024, the Group-IB cybersecurity firm revealed a 74% increase in ransomware attacks across the world in 2023. The surge comes after a year of relative stability in 2022. Europe is the second most-affected part of the world after North America.

In 2023, Group-IB teams identified 149 French organizations hit by a data leak due to ransomware, a number that is up 49%. The figures are consistent with ANSSI’s (French Cybersecurity Agency). The latter observed a 30% increase in ransomware attack reports for 2023. 

France is thus the second most-affected European country in regard to ransomware in 2023, behind the United Kingdom (245 affected organizations) and before Germany (145). However, France is the European country with the most data leaks not caused by ransomware, with 64 cases, before Spain (62) and Italy (52).

As for the infection vectors, Group-IB points to the ever-pervasive role of Initial Access Brokers (IABs), which arrange initial fraudulent access to computer systems. However, the sale of these “ready-to-use” access points remained stable, with 629 identified transactions in Europe, including 111 in the United Kingdom, 83 in France, 70 in Spain, 63 in Germany and 62 in Italy.

The report also shows a 23% increase in compromised French login details available for sale on cybercriminal websites, amounting to 69,000 usernames. On free databases, the number of French account logs remains stable overall (25,873 in 2023 against 26,622 in 2022).