Home STAY CURRENTArticles Why Ransomware Attacks are a Source of Concern for 96 Percent of Organizations

Why Ransomware Attacks are a Source of Concern for 96 Percent of Organizations

by CISOCONNECT Bureau

Over two-thirds of organizations have been hit by ransomware attacks, with one in every six claiming to have been targeted three times or more. Read on to know more…

According to a survey report, ransomware attacks have surged about 110% in the last year, affecting businesses of all sizes and across all market sectors.

Fortinet’s survey noted that more than two-thirds of organizations have been hit by ransomware attacks, with one in six reporting to have been targeted three or more times.

According to Fortinet’s State of Ransomware survey, 96 percent of businesses are concerned about the threat of ransomware attacks, with 85 percent disclosing that they are more concerned about ransomware attacks than any other cyber threat. As a result, CISOs throughout the world are preparing for a ransomware attack and this has become a boardroom issue and a top priority.

Ninety-six percent of respondents stated they are at least partly prepared, with personnel cyber training, ongoing risk assessment, offline data backups, and cybersecurity/ransomware insurance among the top preparedness measures. However, only about less than half include network segmentation, business continuity measures, a remediation plan, the testing of ransomware recovery methods, or red team/blue team exercises to identify security system flaws — all of which most security experts consider to be critical elements of any successful ransomware mitigation strategy.

Challenges of Securing Remote Workers Devices
Organizations were most concerned about remote workers and devices, according to the technologies deemed critical, with Secure Web Gateway, VPN, and Network Access Control among the top picks. While ZTNA is an emerging technology, it should be considered a viable alternative to traditional VPN technology. The low importance of segmentation (31%), a critical technology solution that prevents intruders from moving laterally across the network to access critical data and IP, was the most concerning finding. Similarly, UEBA and sandboxing are crucial for identifying intrusions and new malware strains, but they were ranked lower on the list.

Concerns of Data Loss
The risk of losing data was the top concern for businesses when faced with a ransomware attacks, followed by the loss of productivity and the disruption of operations.

The survey noted “In addition, 84% of organizations reported having an incident response plan, and cybersecurity insurance was a part of 57% of those plans. In regards to paying the ransom if attacked, the procedure for 49% was to pay the ransom outright, and for another 25%, it depends on how expensive the ransom is. Of the one-quarter who paid ransom, most, but not all, got their data back.”

Requirement for Intelligence & Integration
Almost all respondents believe that actionable threat intelligence combined with integrated security solutions or a platform is essential for combating ransomware attacks, and for that they see value in AI-driven behavioural detection capabilities.

A Brief Conclusion
These sophisticated ransomware will place tremendous strain on the availability of services and data streams within, as attackers will look for new ways to put pressure on victims in order to increase their chances of receiving ransom. Cybercriminals will continue to improve their methods and experiment with new business revenue models, such as affiliate schemes that pay people to help them launch attacks in exchange for a share of the profit. The potential repercussions of the double extortion model are enormous.

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