Barracuda recently published a report on ransomware attacks over the last 12 months. The findings show that almost three-quarters (73%) of respondents report being hit with at least one successful ransomware attack in 2022 — and 38% say they were hit twice or more.
The organizations that were hit multiple times with ransomware were more likely to say they had paid the ransom to restore encrypted data. Of those hit once, 31% paid the ransom to restore encrypted data — compared to 34% of those hit twice and 42% of those affected three times or more. Repeat victims were also less likely to use a data backup system to help them recover.
The findings show that for 69% of organizations, the ransomware attack started with a malicious email, such as a phishing email designed to steal credentials to gain access
to the network so the cybercriminals can research assets, servers, and databases before ultimately launching the ransomware attack.
Web applications and web traffic are in second place and represent an area of growing risk as part of an ever-expanding threat surface.
Organizations with cyber insurance were more likely to be hit by ransomware.
More than three-quarters (77%) of organizations with cyber insurance were hit by at least one successful ransomware attack, compared to 65% of organizations without cyber insurance. This could mean cybercriminals are more likely to target organizations with insurance, in the belief that the insurers will be willing to cover the ransom cost to speed up recovery.
The research also found that over a quarter (27%) of the organizations surveyed say they are not fully prepared to deal with a ransomware attack.
The security industry has an essential role to play in helping organizations address the threat of ransomware through deep, multilayered security technologies, threat hunting and extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities, and effective incident response to spot intruders and close gaps so that attackers cannot find an easy way in.
The study was commissioned to Vanson Bourne, an independent market researcher. There were 1,350 survey participants from a broad range of industries, including agriculture, biotechnology, construction, energy, government, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications, wholesale, and others. Survey participants were from the U.S., Australia, India, and Europe. In Europe, respondents were from the United Kingdom, France, DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg), and the Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden). The survey was fielded in December 2022.
0 Comments