Mailing services firm Pitney Bowes Inc. is the latest company to be attacked by ransomware, with services to customers disrupted and hurting its stock price for a few hours.

The ransomware attack, described by the company in a statement Monday as “a malware attack that encrypted information on some systems and disrupted customer access to our services,” was disclosed at 9 a.m. Monday morning.

Pitney Bowes was quick to note that no customer or employee data had been “improperly accessed” in the attack but did not disclose what form of ransomware was involved. The company added that it had employed an outside consultant to help it address the issue.

Stock in Pitney Bowes dropped 4% on news of the ransomware attack in early trading but the stock recovered during the day, closing 1.36% up.

“Costs related to this cyberincident could go up rapidly for Pitney Bowes: third-party forensic experts, breach notification, loss of revenue, lawsuits and much more,” Rajeev Gupta, co-founder and chief product officer at cyber insurance firm Cowbell Cyber Inc., told SiliconANGLE.

Chris Morales, head of security analytics at artificial intelligence cybersecurity firm Vectra AI Inc., noted that modern ransomware has been “heavily weaponized,” with a large blast radius.

“Cloud and enterprise organizations everywhere are scrambling to detect and respond early to ransomware attacks,” Morales said. “Attackers can cause significantly more damage and make far more money by encrypting multiple file servers and databases.”

Morales added that when ransomware encrypts file servers and databases, the stakes become much higher in terms of operational downtime and data loss. “Organizations hit by ransomware outbreaks find themselves in an all-hands-on-deck emergency that requires complete attention to restore systems immediately while business operations are held hostage,” he said. “The best form of protection is to identify the early signals of an attack before the ransomware starts encrypting network file shares.”

Alex Guirakhoo, strategic intelligence analyst at digital risk protection firm Digital Shadows Ltd. ,added that ransomware attacks are becoming more targeted and ransom demands are increasing.

“Future attacks are likely to forgo indiscriminate, widespread targeting in favor of more tailored and specific distribution methods,” Guirakhoo said. “As organizations continue to pay high extortion demands, sometimes reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars, cybercriminals are likely to continue perceiving ransomware as a lucrative opportunity.”

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