Ransomware is wreaking havoc on organizations worldwide, and the numbers are staggering. Travel firm CWT Global shelled out $4.5 million in Bitcoin. The University of California San Francisco $1.14 million, and Colonial Pipeline paid $5 million. Chemical distributor Brenntag paid $4.4 million to DarkSide, while U.K.’s Travelex dished out $2.3 million to REvil. Cognizant Technology Solutions faced costs between $50 million and $70 million after a Maze attack, JBS paid $11 million to REvil, and CNA Financial made headlines with a $40 million payout.
If you think ransomware won’t hit you, think again.
Halcyon, a prominent anti-ransomware platform, released an alarming report on the pervasive impact of ransomware and data exfiltration on businesses. The “Ransomware and Data Extortion Business Risk Report” reveals that over the past 24 months, nearly two-thirds of organizations have been infected with ransomware multiple times, with 18% facing ten or more infections.
Damage
Jon Miller, CEO & Co-founder of Halcyon, emphasized the critical issue of data exfiltration in these attacks. “Most of these attacks today are essentially data exfiltration attacks with some ransomware sprinkled in. Once the data is exfiltrated, the damage is done,” Miller stated. The report highlights that 60% of respondents experienced exfiltration of sensitive or regulated data, with over half facing additional ransom demands to protect this data.
Despite 88% of respondents expressing confidence in their security measures, the report found a significant disconnect between perceived and actual resilience. Nearly 36% of organizations suffered five or more ransomware infections over two years. Furthermore, 62% reported major operational disruptions due to ransomware, with 38% experiencing disruptions lasting from two to six months.
Anthony M. Freed, Halcyon’s Director of Research and Communications, underscored this disparity. “The disconnect between perceived and actual risk is not helping organizations be more resilient to ransomware attacks,” he noted. The overconfidence in current security deployments has led to a high success rate for attackers, resulting in prolonged recovery times and increased post-attack costs.
Key findings from the report include:
- Bypassing Security Controls: Ransomware attackers successfully bypassed security prevention controls in all cases.
- Ransom Payment Ineffectiveness: Of those who paid ransoms, 78% did not receive a working decryptor or received corrupted data upon decryption.
- High Incident Response Costs: 59% reported incident response costs exceeding $1 million.
- Long-term Negative Impact: 57% believed the attacks would negatively impact their operations, competitiveness, profitability, or overall viability.
- Increased Insurance Premiums: 39% saw significant increases in cyber insurance premiums following an attack.
This report illuminates the need for robust, proactive security measures and a reevaluation of current strategies to combat ransomware and data exfiltration threats effectively. The full report is available on Halcyon’s website.
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