Businesses are coming under increasing attack from ransomware – 40% have experienced a ransomware attack in the past year, with companies in the healthcare and financial services sectors getting hit the hardest, according to a new study from Malwarebytes and Osterman Research.
The malicious software is designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money – typically more than $1,000 – is paid. According to FBI statistics, hackers extorted business and institutions for more than $209 million in ransomware payments in the first three months of 2016. The business of ransomware is on pace to be a $1 billion a year crime.
More than 50% of corporate decision makers now consider ransomware to be a “concern” or “extreme concern”, according to the study.
The study surveyed 540 CIOs, CISOs and IT directors from companies in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Germany.
Other highlights of the study include:
- Nearly 80 percent of organizations breached have had high-value data held for ransom.
- Of these victims, more than a third lost revenue and 20% had to stop business completely.
- Nearly 40% of victims paid the ransom.
- U.S. organizations believe that training end users and implementing ransomware-focused technologies are equally important.
“Over the last four years, ransomware has evolved into one of the biggest cyber security threats in the wild, with instances of ransomware in exploit kits increasing 259% in the last five months alone,” said Nathan Scott, a senior security researcher at Malwarebytes.
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