Ransomware

Costs to respond to ransomware are piling

Organizations hit by ransomware attacks paid an average of $812,260 to obtain decryption keys to facilitate server and file restoration last year, up from an average payment of $170,000 in 2020, reports ZDNet. Even though only less than half of ransomware victims pay demanded ransoms, the rate of victims choosing to pay more than $1 million rose from 4% to 11% between 2020 and 2021, according to a Sophos analysis. However, ransomware attacks may have already peaked and various government efforts, as well as increased cyber insurance demands, have been encouraging organizations to strengthen their security defenses and avoid ransom payments, said Sophos Principal Research Scientist Chester Wisniewski. Still, Wisniewski emphasized that the threat of ransomware attacks will not just disappear. "I don't think you're ever going to deter the hardcore ransomware groups because there's too much money to be made when they're getting multi-million dollar hits. Crooks aren't going to walk away from that, even if it's a one in twenty chance it's still a million dollars," he added.

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