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Does anyone have an estimate of how much money WannaCry has made in total? Incentives matter, and if the ransomeware developers are actually getting paid a lot

Does anyone have an estimate of how much money WannaCry has made in total? Incentives matter, and if the ransomeware developers are actually getting paid a lot, they will continue exploiting these vulnerabilities. On the other hand, if it turns out people don't actually bother paying despite being locked out of their computers, would the hackers even bother continuing this line of attack?

jonursenbach 9y ago
Some numbers I saw going around yesterday that were looking at the discovered Bitcoin addresses totaled around $18,000.
- tristanho 9y ago
  $18,000 (or $36,000 as another comment suggests) seems incredibly low for "The largest ransom-ware infection in history"... how can this be worth it for the hackers?
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - syshum 9y ago
    Since this happened over the weekend I am sure there are many business in for a nasty suprise on monday, as well users getting in contact with their "Technical Help" monday So I bet their plan was to infect as many as possible over the weekend, and see money roll in come Monday once the Business Decision makers are in play and IT has had time to say "Yea our backups are fucked so we either pay or lose all data"
    - Scoundreller 9y ago
      It started at 0700 on Friday, UK time. The infections to businesses in the Americas and EU has been done. Asia might be unscathed since the "killswitch" URL was registered. Until it mutates. Lots of money might pour in on Monday as those infected decide that paying the ransom maximizes business continuity.
      - syshum 9y ago
        >>Until it mutates Already has, twice
  - Freak_NL 9y ago
    > how can this be worth it for the hackers? Depends on where they live. For most people on Earth this is a very large sum of money that will go a long way (just not 'here' in the countries where the virus spread).
    - javier2 9y ago
      Just realized we could pay them many times this amount just to not make ransomware :|
55555 9y ago
I saw an article claiming they had infected a third of a million computers by 1-2 days ago. Google claims that private ransomware programs claim a 3% conversion rate, and because this one was spread by worm it is likely to have a greater rate of PCs in business settings (as they are networked) compared to normal. So at least 5 million dollars (avg payment of $450?) and probably pushing up to 8 million by now. Perhaps a ransomware/malware criminal reading this can make a throwaway and provide a better estimate.

jonursenbach 9y ago

Some numbers I saw going around yesterday that were looking at the discovered Bitcoin addresses totaled around $18,000.

tristanho 9y ago
$18,000 (or $36,000 as another comment suggests) seems incredibly low for "The largest ransom-ware infection in history"... how can this be worth it for the hackers?
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- syshum 9y ago
  Since this happened over the weekend I am sure there are many business in for a nasty suprise on monday, as well users getting in contact with their "Technical Help" monday So I bet their plan was to infect as many as possible over the weekend, and see money roll in come Monday once the Business Decision makers are in play and IT has had time to say "Yea our backups are fucked so we either pay or lose all data"
  - Scoundreller 9y ago
    It started at 0700 on Friday, UK time. The infections to businesses in the Americas and EU has been done. Asia might be unscathed since the "killswitch" URL was registered. Until it mutates. Lots of money might pour in on Monday as those infected decide that paying the ransom maximizes business continuity.
    - syshum 9y ago
      >>Until it mutates Already has, twice
- Freak_NL 9y ago
  > how can this be worth it for the hackers? Depends on where they live. For most people on Earth this is a very large sum of money that will go a long way (just not 'here' in the countries where the virus spread).
  - javier2 9y ago
    Just realized we could pay them many times this amount just to not make ransomware :|

55555 9y ago

I saw an article claiming they had infected a third of a million computers by 1-2 days ago. Google claims that private ransomware programs claim a 3% conversion rate, and because this one was spread by worm it is likely to have a greater rate of PCs in business settings (as they are networked) compared to normal. So at least 5 million dollars (avg payment of $450?) and probably pushing up to 8 million by now. Perhaps a ransomware/malware criminal reading this can make a throwaway and provide a better estimate.