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The threat of ransomware is becoming widespread among corporations, with almost half of U.S. businesses suffering an attack from the nasty form of malware recently, according to a new survey.
Security firm Malwarebytes sponsored the study, which found in June that 41 percent of U.S. businesses had at least encountered between one to five ransomware attacks in the previous 12 months.
Another 6 percent saw six or more attacks.
The study surveyed corporations in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Germany to gauge how ransomware affected their operations.
The malware, which can infect a computer and take the data hostage, can be bad for business. Thirty-four percent of the victim corporations in the countries surveyed reported losing revenue because the ransomware had prevented access to important files.
U.S. businesses victimized by the malware generally didn’t suffer a heavy toll and only 6 percent of them reported losing revenue. In most cases, the malicious code only affected personal files.
[...] More amateur cybercriminals are probably indiscriminately spreading ransomware in the U.S. like spam, the survey added. Low-level ransom demands of up to $500 are prevalent in the U.S. However, high ransom demands of more than $10,000 are more common in Germany.
Malwarebytes sponsored Osterman Research to conduct the study by surveying 540 CIOs, CISOs and IT directors across the four countries.
What steps has your company taken to protect against ransomware? Is it enough? What about your personal system(s)?
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 05 2016, @08:49PM
This report presents the US results of a survey undertaken in the United States, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom on ransomware and related issues. The survey was conducted during June 2016 with 165 organizations in the United States, and 125 each in the other nations for a total of 540 surveys completed.
Small sample size, and the study was done by a company that sells anti-malware products. I could believe it, but I could also believe that the survey was done as a marketing activity.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 05 2016, @09:05PM
I could actually see that number being higher, due to how the question is interpreted by the respondent. For example, our HR department and those with publicly posted email addresses get at least one ransomware file a month and commonly has at least one a week. However, none of those have made it past the layered security. So, depending on the mood of our CIO, either we have "experienced" zero ransomware attacks or more than twenty. Similarly, a friend who runs his own business got his first of the year, but VT flagged it; so, he "experienced" either zero or one, depending on his experience.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 05 2016, @09:14PM
Good point. Attempted (but failed) attacks are still attacks. I wasn't thinking of them as such.