FinCEN released its Financial Trend Analysis of ransomware-related Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) filings for the second half of 2021. Ransomware continues to pose a significant threat and 2021 saw an increase in both the number of filings reported and their overall dollar value of incidents. In 2021, FinCEN received 1,489 ransomware-related filings worth nearly USD 1.2 billion, a 188 percent increase compared to the total of USD 416 million for 2020.

Financial institutions have a critical role in protecting the financial system and FinCEN recommends to:

1. Incorporate indicators of compromise (IOCs) into intrusion detection systems to enable blocking or reporting of suspected malicious activity

2. Contact law enforcement immediately regarding ransomware activity

3. Report suspicious activity