The average cryptocurrency ransomware in the first quarter of 2019 was $12,762, increasing nearly 89 percent compared to the amount in Q4 last year, according to the ransom payment firm Coveware.

Coveware noted the rise in ransoms has coincided with more expensive ransomware, which will encrypt victim’s files and ask for payments such as Ryuk, Bitpaymer, and Iencrypt. “These types of ransomware are predominantly used in bespoke targeted attacks on larger enterprise targets”

The Ryuk ransom has become quite popular recently, ranking at the third place on the market share table in Q1, only after Dharma and Crysis. Ryuk not only targets large enterprises but also other variants. Furthermore, it requires $286,556 payments on average, which is higher than Dharma with an average ransom of $9,742.

Bitcoin is still the number one target in ransomware compared to other cryptocurrencies. This makes people use privacy coins like Dash or Monero just for avoiding ransomware, but not for the initial payment.

Recently, a US federal jury has reportedly convicted two Romania nationals of a widespread malware operation primarily in the US, which caused over 400,000 personal computers to be infected with malware since 2007.

Earlier this year, a file-locking malware called H-Ant appears to have begun holding mining rigs hostage, threatening to destroy rigs in China by switching off their cooling fans if a ransom of 10 BTC (about $35,000) is not paid, reported by The Crypto Sight on Jan 30.