We are happy to share that Chad Whelan, David Bright, and James Martin from ADI/SHSS along with their colleague Benoît Dupont (Université de Montréal) have secured $69,709 from the Australian Institute of Criminology for a project titled “Revealing the hidden networks of criminal groups conducting and facilitating ransomware attacks”.

Ransomware has grown exponentially in recent years, with many cybersecurity experts and government bodies across Australia, Europe, North America, and the United Kingdom referring to it as the biggest cyber threat today. Victims include education and healthcare sectors, government and public service, financial services and markets, non-profit and charities. 

Estimates are putting the costs of ransomware well into the billions of dollars. In Australia alone, ransomware attacks cost tens of millions in 2021. Furthermore, as recently noted by the Australian Cyber Security Centre, ‘cybersecurity authorities in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom assess that if the ransomware criminal business model continues to yield financial returns for ransomware actors, ransomware incidents will become more frequent’.

The project ADI members Chad Whelan and David Bright, with James Martin (SHSS) and Benoît Dupont (Université de Montréal) are conducting, is a world first approach to analysing and disrupting criminal groups involved in ransomware attacks. 

It aims to identify the characteristics of groups involved in this field of organised cybercrime, the careers and lifespan of such groups, as well as reveal the hidden structure underlying ransomware groups and their activities. These groups include some of those identified as the highest priority threats by Australia and several other countries.