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Ransomware-as-a-Service: When Hackers Get Business Savvy
Today’s cybercriminals have gone corporate with “Ransomware-as-a-Service” (RaaS): with customer support, slick dashboards, and affiliate programs.
What is RaaS anyway?
Just like you might subscribe to the cheese of the month club, criminals now “subscribe” to ransomware platforms. The developers handle all the technical stuff, while “affiliates” focus on breaking into your systems.
How the criminal franchise works:
Cybercriminals are recruited through dark web forums and messaging apps where RaaS operators carefully vet potential “business partners.” New affiliates typically pay an initial buy-in fee or agree to revenue-sharing deals (usually 70/30 or 80/20 in the affiliate’s favor). Once in, they receive a complete toolkit: custom ransomware code, infection tracking dashboards, and payment portals – everything needed to start extorting victims without deep technical knowledge.
These operations even mimic legitimate businesses with “customer support” for troubleshooting issues and regular software updates to evade antivirus detection. Payment typically flows through cryptocurrency, with the RaaS platform automatically splitting profits between developers and affiliates after a successful ransom payment.
Except not in every case… In March of 2024, the BlackCat RaaS operation abruptly shut down after receiving a massive $22 million payout. Or did they? “ALPHV/BlackCat did not get seized. They are exit scamming their affiliates,” Ransomware researcher Fabian Wosar tweeted, after he intercepting their dark web chatter and found that they actually planned to re-brand after pocketing the ransom (Hacker News Article).
Does it really matter what they call themselves? No. RaaS syndicates will emerge and fill any gap left by a larger group–so the threat remains regardless.
Stats You Should Know:
- U.S. ransomware attacks jumped a whopping 149% in early 2025 compared to the same period last year
- More than 96 distinct ransomware groups publicly disclosed victims in 2025, up from 61 in 2023
- Despite more attacks, ransom payments fell by over one-third in 2024 (organizations are fighting back and not paying ransoms–a smart move when there’s no guarantee you’ll get your data back)
- The average recovery cost from a ransomware attack still exceeds $1.85 million per incident
Protect Your Business:
Don’t become another statistic! Make sure you have backups configured properly (Facet can help), enforce multi-factor authentication everywhere (yes, EVERYWHERE), and limit user privileges so Bob from marketing can’t accidentally compromise your entire network.
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