The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that ransomware payments have grown year-after-year, recently hitting what NetDiligence characterized in its latest annual report as "new and unprecedented levels." The Globe's Alexandra Posadzki writes that companies forked over payments as large as $75-million to hackers, whose initial demands were as high as $150-million according to the report, which analyzed cyber insurance claims for incidents between 2020 and 2024 (all figures U.S.). There were 50 ransoms paid at or above the $10-million mark. In total, global ransomware damages are expected to reach $57-billion annually this year. Many ransomware gangs operate on an affiliate model, leasing their tools in exchange for a share of the profits, a business structure referred to as ransomware-as-a-service. An attacker could purchase access to a compromised organization from one party, then deploy malware created by a separate person or entity. After extorting the victim, the perpetrator can employ a money mule service to launder the proceeds, said Adam Evans, chief information security officer at RBC. "That's given them scalability, and it's allowed them to really reduce the barriers of entry into criminal behaviour."