The cybersecurity industry is in the middle of a crisis right now. Phishing attacks have increased by 350 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Online scams are out of control. And tech companies have lost the public's trust over privacy concerns. Now, cybersecurity company Lumu reports that ransomware attacks have also increased significantly in 2020 (scroll down to see the full infographic).
Lumu's collected data shows that the global cost of ransomware attacks has risen to $20 billion in 2020 from $11.5 billion just the year before. The average cost of one of these attacks has reached $4.44 million, which is higher than the cost of a data breach or hack.
These attacks are taking place all over the world, but in 2020, 69 percent of North American companies said they were the victim of a ransomware attack. That's higher than 61 percent of companies in the Middle East and Africa, 57 percent of companies in Europe, and 55 percent of companies in Asia and Oceania.
Over the last year, 15.4 percent of North American local, state, and federal governments also reported having suffered from a ransomware attack, the highest of any other category. Businesses most targeted include manufacturing (13.9), construction (13.2), utilities (11.1), service (10.4), retail (7.4), real estate (7.1), and hospitality (6.1). Surprisingly, healthcare (5.7), education (5.0), and financial (4.6) were among the least frequently targeted industries.
If you're wondering which programs MSPs (managed service providers) have reported they were attacked with, 66 percent said CryptoLocker, while WannaCry was seen 49 percent of the time and CryptoWall 34 percent. Overall, 36 percent of attacked companies actually paid the ransom, which we strong advise against. Not only can it now violate US sanctions, but it might be for nothing: Out of those that paid the ransom, 17 percent reported that they never got their data back.
IT adviser Gartner says that 90 percent of ransomware attacks are preventable, though 28 percent of small and mid-size businesses are currently unprepared. So what can you do? It may be time for you, and your business, to invest in good ransomware protection software.
