Once again, ransom payments are on the rise and expected to reach record highs this year. What’s behind these record-breaking amounts is a new ransomware trend that’s working well—for cybercriminals, that is.

Research shows the maximum and median amounts of ransom payments are sharply increasing, with median payments now averaging $1.5 million. That’s almost eight times what they were just 18 months ago. On record for the largest payment so far this year is Dark Angels ransomware gang getting a $75 million ransom payment. The good news? Although there’s a 10% increase in attacks posted on data leak sites, where those who refuse to pay a ransom have their stolen data leaked, ransom payments are down more than 27%.

Behind the numbers is a disturbing new attack trend called “big game hunting.” These are high-profile attacks on big business and critical infrastructure that bring big bucks ransom demands and payments. So, while the number of actual ransomware attacks get smaller, the big game hunting payoff is much, much larger. It’s an alarming problem for big game targets when their operations are disrupted, and their highly sensitive data is at risk of public exposure.

Although authorities have broken up some of ransomware’s biggest operators like LockBit and ALPHV/BlackCat, these groups splinter into new operations. Some rebrand themselves, but they also bring new methods and techniques to their attacks. One suggestion is for law enforcement to better follow the money leading directly to these groups. In the meantime, organizations both big and small need to protect themselves from ransomware, including what’s trending now and those trends to come.