New Ransomware Report; True Costs Analysed In-Depth

Need some ransomware costs insights? Cybereason, the leader in future-ready attack protection, has released research findings from a global ransomware study of nearly 1,300 security professionals that reveals more than half of organisations have been the victim of a ransomware attack. In the UK specifically, 305 companies were contacted and 84% of businesses that chose to pay a ransom demand suffered a second ransomware attack, often at the hands of the same threat actor group (53%).

The report, titled Ransomware: The True Cost to Business, also divulged that of the organisations in the UK who opted to pay a ransom demand to regain access to their encrypted systems, 43% reported that some or all of the data was corrupted during the recovery process. These findings underscore why it does not pay to pay ransomware attackers, and that organisations should focus on early detection and prevention strategies to end ransomware attacks at the earliest stages before critical systems and data are put in jeopardy.

Key findings (UK-specific) in the research include:

• Loss of Business: 47 percent of organisations reported significant loss of business following a ransomware attack. Of these individuals, 61% admitted to losing revenue.
• Ransom Demands Increasing: 51 percent of businesses that paid a ransom demand shelled out between £250,000 – £1 million, while 4 percent paid ransoms exceeding £1 million.
• Brand and Reputation Damage: 63 percent of organisations who admitted to losing business indicated that their brand and reputation were damaged as a result of a successful attack
• C-Level Talent Loss: 45 percent of organisations who admitted to losing business reported losing C-Level talent as a direct result of ransomware attacks
• Employee Layoffs: 31 percent of those who admitted to losing business reported being forced to layoff employees due to financial pressures following a ransomware attack
• Business Closures: A startling 34 percent of organisations who admitted to losing business reported that a ransomware attack forced the business to close down operations entirely

The full report can be found here: Ransomware: The True Cost to Business.