The Median Price To Get In To The Ransomware Game? Just $10.50

I’ve long been saying that the ransomware problem is going to get worse before it gets better. The Ransomware Economy report published by Carbon Black does a great job backing my theory.

Becker’s Health IT & CIO Review does a good job of boiling things down to 4 key points:

  • Dark web ransomware market for 2016 – $249k. So far in 2017 – $6.2 million
  • Ransomware retailers are making about $31k more per year than a typical software developer
  • DIY ransomware kits range from $0.50 to $3k with a median of $10.50
  • 6,300 marketplaces have about 45k product listings

Ouch.

As long as the money keeps flowing in by the truckload, the bad guys will continue to innovate and unleash more on the masses. Get prepared for it to be worse before it gets better.


Erich Kron is the Security Awareness Advocate at KnowBe4, and has over 20 years’ experience in the medical, aerospace manufacturing and defense fields. He is the former security manager for the US Army 2nd Regional Cyber Center-Western Hemisphere.

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