Lightning Never Strikes Twice? Ransomware Attackers Seen Regularly Repeating Previous Attacks
Cybersecurity company Cybereason reveals that the actual price of a ransomware attack on a business includes much more than the ransom itself.
When choosing whether to comply and pay the demanded ransom to cyber attackers, there are many different considerations to have in mind. The latest report by Cybereason reveals that only one in two victims who paid ransom actually got their data back uncorrupted, and four out of five were eventually breached again by the same attackers.
According to Cybernews, the company’s researchers went over 1,008 IT professionals who all dealt with breachers at least once in the past two years and found that 84% chose to pay the ransom, averaging $1.4 million in the US. However, only 47% got their data and services back uncorrupted, so this doesn’t appear to have been the optimal strategy.
Furthermore, a staggering 78% were attacked again after paying the ransom – 82% of them within a year – and 63% of these were asked to pay more the second time. “Payment doesn’t equal any future protection!” reads Cybereason’s report. They also reveal that every third consecutive attack was carried out by the same attacker. The report also revealed that 41% of the malicious actors got into the network through the supply chain, 24% got in directly, and 22% got in with an insider’s help.
Security experts estimate that in 46% of ransomware cases, business losses amounted to $1-10 million, while in 16% of the cases the losses can reach over $10 million. Some organizations choose to pay the ransom because they fear the attackers will disclose sensitive information, while for others it seemed to be “the quickest and easiest solution.”
“It’s no guarantee that your data and systems will be returned uncorrupted, that attackers won’t sell your data on the black market, or that you won’t be attacked again. And if there’s any evidence that your payment was used to fund terrorism or organized crime, you could find yourself facing criminal charges,” explains Greg Day, VP at Cybereason.
