One of the biggest proofs that ransomware is a huge problem nowadays is the latest report by CyberEdge Group which states that 61% of organizations have been compromised by ransomware over the past year.
The Cyberthreat Defense Report, following its surveys, said that a great number of organizations were affected by ransomware in 2016. Fortunately, 54% of the affected ones succeeded to get their data back without paying the ransom, however, another 33% chose to pay the ransom to decrypt their files. The rest 13% of the organizations did not pay the ransom and lost their data for good.
According to the other findings featured in the Cyberthreat Defense Report, the number of network breaches is rising, while one of the biggest security risks for any organization is posed by under-trained employees. Nevertheless, the good news is that organizations are investing much more in security now, so there might be a stronger fight against ransomware in the next years.
The report shows that the number of cyber attacks has also increased. In 2014, 62% of organizations were affected by successful attacks, while in 2015, the number reached 70%, only to hit 76% in 2016.
The estimates put the 2016’s success rate at 79%. This is a real proof that cyber attacks are getting more and more viral as time passes by, and many companies will end up with ransomware infections.
The participants in the survey were also asked which of 11 applications and data-centric technologies their organizations used. Here, the database firewalls and web application firewalls reached 65%, which is the highest adoption rate so far.
Nevertheless, the highest risk in this situation continues to be the employees themselves. It is due to the fact that usually, they are not properly trained on how to keep their data secure. For that reason, they might tap on a link they shouldn’t, access a website they are not supposed to, or download and run a file that’s infected with some type of malware. Once in the network, the infection spreads like fire.
The CEO of CyberEdge Group, Steve Piper, is amazed by the way things happen. Despite investing deeper every year, the frequency and severity of data breaches are constantly increasing.
Considering all the above-mentioned, the first thing organizations should do is investing more in training their employees. The second, but not less important, is to get their systems secured against any cyber attacks.
