An analysis from global cybersecurity company Group-IB reveals that ransomware attacks more than doubled last year and increased in both scale and sophistication. The massive payouts that averaged between $1 and $2 million for some gangs attracted new actors that focused on large companies mostly in North America and Europe. The researchers predict that the ransomware threat will continue to grow and actors will adapt to make it even more profitable by using Linux variants more often and advancing or changing their techniques (e.g. focus on stealing data for extortion and abandoning encryption).
Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ransomware-is-a-multi-billion-industry-and-it-keeps-growing/