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And big box stores like Target and Home Depot both paid settlements in the tens of millions of dollars following breaches. The Washington Post reported that Scripps Health, a San Diego hospital system, was hit with multiple class-action lawsuits after a ransomware attack in April. When attacks affect consumers or customers, victims can expect to hear from the lawyers. The damages their customers are incurring are beginning to exceed estimates, forcing premiums to rise. Higher Insurance PremiumsĪs more and more companies file claims for ransomware attacks and recoveries, insurers are increasing premiums. Some companies ended up paying a second time. More ransomware operators have been exfiltrating additional data during the recovery period, and copycat operators have been exploiting vulnerabilities that go unaddressed even for a few days. We’ve seen reports of repeat attacks, either because companies already demonstrated willingness to pay or because the vulnerability that allowed hackers access to systems remained susceptible to exploitation. This behavior used to be rare, but has become more common in 2021. In fact, paying ransoms lets cybercriminals know you’re an easy mark. Unsurprisingly, hackers don’t always keep their promises when companies pay ransoms. One of the cruel realities of being attacked by ransomware is that it makes businesses a target for repeat attacks. Moreover, the increase in attacks and subsequent tightening of requirements from insurance providers means that more companies will be forced to bring systems up to speed in order to maintain coverage. Stronger Cybersecurity ProtectionsĪ company that’s been attacked by ransomware will likely allocate more budget to avoid the same fate in the future, and rightfully so. Calculating the total hours spent on recovery may not be possible, but it’s a factor to consider in planning. Human resources will be fielding employee questions and concerns. The finance team will be brought into ransom negotiations. Marketing and communications teams will be tasked with crisis communications. Obviously, the IT team will be focused on getting systems back up and running, but other areas of the business will be monopolized as well. For a small business, most, if not all, of the company’s efforts will be directed toward recovery for a period of time. While Colonial restored service after six days, CEO Joseph Blount testified before Congress more than a month after the attack that recovery was still ongoing. This time should be factored in when calculating the true cost of ransomware. According to Coveware, the average downtime in Q2 2021 amounted to over three weeks (23 days). And an attack on Baltimore County Public Schools forced more than 100,000 students to miss classes. An attack on a Vermont health center had hospitals turning away patients. The Colonial Pipeline attack shut down gasoline service to almost half of the East Coast for six days. The downtime resulting from ransomware can be incredibly disruptive, and not just for the companies themselves. The cost of recovery comes from a wide range of factors, including: According to Sophos, the average bill for recovering from a ransomware attack, including downtime, people hours, device costs, network costs, lost opportunities, ransom paid, etc. The true costs of ransomware recovery soar into the millions with the added complication of being much harder to quantify. Though the numbers vary, the data show that ransoms are not just pocket change for SMBs any way you slice it. Predictions from Cybersecurity Ventures paint an even bleaker picture, putting worldwide ransomware damages in the tens of billions of dollars by the end of 2021. Yet another source, Palo Alto Networks, recently reported that the average ransom payment hit $570,000-82% higher than 2020’s average of $312,000. In their own reporting, Coveware found that the average ransom payment was $136,576 in Q2 2021, but that number fluctuates quarter to quarter. The most common payment was $10,000 (paid by 20 respondents), with the highest payment a massive $3.2 million (paid by two respondents). However, the spectrum of ransom payments was wide. The Sophos State of Ransomware 2021 report, a survey of 5,400 IT decision makers in mid-sized organizations in 30 countries, found the average ransom payment was $170,404 in 2020. “Object Lock 101: Protecting Data From Ransomware”.
#Average corporate crypto locker amount per event how to#
#Average corporate crypto locker amount per event series#
This post is a part of our ongoing series on ransomware.