According to a report by cybersecurity firm Sophos, two-thirds (66%) of mid-sized organizations worldwide experienced ransomware attacks last year, up from 37% a year earlier.
Ransomware is a type of malware designed to extort money. Blocks access to a computer system or prevents the data written to it from being read (often by means of encryption) and then demands a ransom from the victim to restore the original state.
Nearly two-thirds (59%) of respondents also noted that the complexity of the attacks themselves has increased, and for more than half (53%), the consequences have also increased.
Data recovery
Even more worrisome is the sharp rise in the value of ransom demands. The global average rose from $170,000 in 2020 to $812,000 last year, with 11% of organizations paying more than $1 million in buyouts.
At the same time, the share of organizations paying less than $10,000 decreased from 34% in 2020 to 21% in 2021.
Moreover, more and more companies choose to pay the ransom, despite the fact that law enforcement advises otherwise. The report states that in 2021, 46% of organizations subjected to ransomware attacks eventually succumbed to the demands.
“There could be several reasons for this, including a lack of full backups or a desire to prevent stolen data from appearing on a public site. After a ransomware attack, there is often a strong desire to get back up and running as soon as possible,” says Chester Wisniewski, Chief Scientist at Sophos.
“Restoring encrypted data using backups can be a complex and time-consuming process, so it might be tempting to think that paying a ransom for a decryption key is a faster option. But it also carries other risks. Organizations don’t know what the attackers might have done, like adding backdoors, copying passwords, etc.”
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