Ransomware attacks in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region saw a significant increase of 39% year-on-year, totaling 493 incidents, as reported in Group-IB’s Hi-Tech Crime Trends Report 2023/2024. The data was derived from attacks directed at companies whose information appeared on ransomware data leak sites, comparing statistics between 2023 and 2022. Australia led with 101 attacks, marking an 80% surge from the previous year. India secured the second position with 84 attacks, compared to 40 in the previous year, while Thailand ranked third with 37 incidents. The manufacturing sector was the most targeted, representing 16% of all identified attacks in the region.

In terms of publicly leaked data, India experienced the highest number of incidents in the region, with 121 leaks in 2023. Following were Indonesia with 58, Thailand with 30, Vietnam with 20, and Australia and China with 14 each. Overall, there were 338 new instances of data leakage, affecting 412 million strings with compromised user data.

The manufacturing sector remained particularly vulnerable, being the most targeted industry in the region, constituting 16% of all identified ransomware attacks. Following closely were the real estate industry at 9% and financial services at 8%.

Among ransomware gangs, LockBit emerged as a significant threat in the region, accounting for 34% of all victims in the APAC region whose attacks led to data being published on leak sites. BlackCat (ALPHV) claimed the second spot with 12%, followed by Cl0p with 6%.