Ransomware is still rampant across organizations worldwide, with roughly 56 percent of businesses experiencing a ransomware attack in the last 12 months, new research revealed. The findings come from SentinelOne’s 2018 Global Ransomware Study conducted by Vanson Bourne, which surveyed 500 businesses in the UK, France, Germany and the United States. Of the organizations affected by ransomware in the past year, participants said they responded to an average of five attacks during that time period. According to the report, the industries worst hit included IT, technology and telecoms (67 percent); construction and property (65 percent); as well as energy, oil/gas, and utilities (65 percent). Overall, one in three organizations (32 percent) that suffered a ransomware attack paid at least one ransom. The majority or organizations (46 percent), however, refused to pay and decrypted the data themselves or resorted to back-ups. Commenting on the findings, Migo Kedem, director of Product Management at SentinelOne, said:
“It’s … encouraging to see a clear movement against companies caving in to ransomware demands, preferring instead to take more proactive measures such as back-ups and patching of vulnerable systems.”
Nonetheless, Kedem added that the volume of attacks is still increasing and their speed, scale, sophistication and success in evading detection will likely keep ransomware among the top threats in 2018 and beyond. For additional findings, read the full report here.
Source: SentinelOne
