The costly risks of ransomware attacks

As ransomware attacks on businesses make headlines across the country, it is expected that the losses connected to them is expected to reach $20 billion this year.

A report from Cybereason, titled Ransomware: The True Cost to Business, identifies the risks businesses face from these attacks which can extend beyond dollars and cents.

The report says that 81 percent of organizations are highly or very concerned about the risk of a ransomware attack while 73 percent have a specific plan or policy in place to manage an attack. Only 42 percent believe they have the right people in place to get the job done should an attack occurs.

Some of the key findings of the report include:

• 66 percent of organizations reported significant revenue loss after the ransomware attack
• 35 percent of businesses which paid a ransom paid between $350,000 and $1.4 million and 7 percent of ransoms paid were greater than $1.4 million
• 53 percent of victim organizations claim their brand and reputation were damaged by the attack
• 29 percent say they were forced to layoff employees due to financial pressures brought on by a ransomware attack
• 26 percent of businesses were forced to close down operations entirely for some period of time due to a ransomware attack

Most startling, the report says that 80 percent of business who paid a ransom were the victims of another attack, meanwhile 46 percent of those who paid ransoms regained access to their data only to find that some or all of it was corrupted.

“Paying a ransom demand does not guarantee a successful recovery, does not prevent the attackers from hitting the victim organization again, as exemplified in these research results, and in the end only exacerbates the problem by encouraging more attacks,” the report says. “Getting in front of the threat by adopting a prevention-first strategy for early detection will allow organizations to stop disruptive ransomware before they can hurt the business.”