Cybercrime Victims Already Paid At Least $81M In Crypto This Year: Report

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has published a report about how much victims of ransomware attacks have paid in cryptocurrency this year so far.

What Happened: According to Chainalysis, cybercriminals have already raked in at least $81 million since the start of 2021. Furthermore, this estimate "must be considered a floor for the time being, as the figure will almost certainly grow as we identify more ransomware addresses."

So far, the all-time high metric was reported last year, with $406 million worth of digital currencies paid to criminals throughout 2020.

Ransomware is a type of computer virus that encrypts data and locks the user out of it.

The virus attempts to sell the encryption key needed to regain access to the data in exchange for cryptocurrency.

Some ransomware viruses also send the data to the hackers, who then threaten to — if not paid quickly — release sensitive data on the internet's darkest corners.

Recently, Colonial Pipeline Co. paid nearly $5 million in cryptocurrency to cybercriminals to regain access to data and regain control of the United State’s largest fuel pipeline.