UPDATED 08:00 EDT / OCTOBER 19 2021

SECURITY

Report finds 64% of companies targeted by ransomware attacks in last 12 months

The rise of ransomware attacks has been well-documented, but a new report suggests that the number may be even more considerable than reported because not all companies disclose attacks.

A new report released today by ThycoticCentrify, based on a survey of 300 U.S.-based information technology decision-makers, found that 64% said they had been victims of a ransomware attack in the last 12 months. A full 83% of those who had been targeted by ransomware attacks said that they had no choice but to pay the ransom demanded to restore the data.

“This is a strong indicator that companies experiencing a ransomware incident feel there are few, if any, options to paying the ransomware demand,” the report notes.

Nearly three-quarters of companies that had been targeted by ransomware attacks said that they had increased their cybersecurity budgets as a result of being targeted by ransomware. And 93% of those increasing funding were allocating a special budget to fight future ransomware threats.

For those companies hit by ransomware, 50% said that they had experienced a loss of revenue and reputation damage from an attack, while 42% said they had lost customers from an attack. One-third said ransomware attacks had also resulted in employee layoffs.

Of those surveyed, 53% said that email was the most vulnerable vector for ransomware attacks, followed by applications and the cloud.

“Ransomware actors are getting increasingly brazen because they face no real consequences and they are getting high ransoms because the costs of just being down far exceed the cost of paying the ransom,” John Bambenek, threat intelligence advisor at IT service management company Netenrich Inc., told SiliconANGLE. “Naive statements like ‘Never pay the ransom’ simply ignore the reality of the situation and do not have any chance in actually changing anything.”

Nothing that although companies have gotten better at recovery from breaches, Bambenek said attackers are trying new ways to get paid.

“It has been increasingly frequent in recent months where supply chain breaches are leading to ransom demands to not leak data belonging to the victim organization,” Bambenek said. “Frankly, as long as the economics are in favor of paying, most organizations will pay. However, the paying of ransoms doesn’t guarantee results.”

Timur Kovalev, chief technology officer at security orchestration firm Untangle Inc., noted that malicious actors have recently targeted specific companies where they can cause severe disruption to service and society in general, knowing these entities will pay the ransom to get services up and running as soon as possible.

“Ransomware attacks are increasing because companies are paying the ransom,” Kovalev said. “Look at organizations such as JBS and Colonial Pipeline, which paid a $4.4 million ransom, although a good portion was returned. Cybercriminals see the large payouts and it encourages them to strike more often and at larger, more lucrative targets.”

Image: Pixabay

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