Four in every five organizations that pay ransomware fees suffer another attack, according to research released today by security company Cybereason.
The company published the figure in a report that surveyed cyber security professionals worldwide, with 24% of them based in the US. It found that 46% of the companies targeted a second time were attacked by the same criminals that infected them the first time.
A rise in double extortion attacks — ransomware attacks that encrypt files and steal data — is likely to spur repeat attacks from ransomware groups and their affiliates who want to extract more money from victims.
According to the report, DarkSide, the gang that successfully attacked Colonial Pipeline, had been pressuring its targets with threats to release insider information to stock traders so they could short company shares.
Cyber criminals seem to be good at honoring ransom payments by providing decryption keys, but they aren't great at quality assurance. While 51% of companies that paid a ransom said they retrieved their data in full. Another 46% said they got their data back, but some of it was corrupted. Only 3% didn't get their data back at all.
Ransomware attacks also had a devastating effect on businesses. The study revealed that two-thirds of organizations suffered significant revenue losses, and 29% laid off some staff in the wake of an attack, which often led to the business’s demise. In the US, 31% of companies suffering a ransomware attack closed altogether.
RELATED RESOURCE
Defend your organisation from evolving ransomware attacks
Learn what it takes to reduce risk and strengthen operational resiliency
Senior executives weren’t immune from the effects of successful ransomware attacks. The report found that a third of companies lost senior leadership after an attack, either by dismissal or resignation.
The research found businesses relied heavily on cyber insurance to cover the losses, as 54% of companies took out a policy. However, this often isn't an effective hedge against ransomware risk. Of companies with cyber insurance and suffered an attack, 42% said cyber insurance only partially covered the losses.
-
Prolific ransomware operator added to Europe’s Most Wanted list as US dangles $10 million rewardNews The US Department of Justice is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of Volodymyr Viktorovych Tymoshchuk, an alleged ransomware criminal.
-
Jaguar Land Rover “did the right thing” shutting down systems to thwart cyber attackNews The attack on Jaguar Land Rover highlights the growing attractiveness of the automotive sector
-
Ransomware attack on IT supplier disrupts hundreds of Swedish municipalitiesNews The attack on IT systems supplier Miljödata has impacted public sector services across the country
-
A notorious hacker group is ramping up cloud-based ransomware attacksNews The Storm-0501 threat group is refining its tactics, according to Microsoft, shifting away from traditional endpoint-based attacks and toward cloud-based ransomware.
-
Security researchers have just identified what could be the first ‘AI-powered’ ransomware strain – and it uses OpenAI’s gpt-oss-20b modelNews Using OpenAI's gpt-oss:20b model, ‘PromptLock’ generates malicious Lua scripts via the Ollama API.
-
Data I/O shuts down systems in wake of ransomware attack
News Regulatory filings by Data I/O suggest the costs of dealing with the attack could be significant
-
Average ransom payment doubles in a single quarterNews Targeted social engineering and data exfiltration have become the biggest tactics as three major ransomware groups dominate
-
BlackSuit ransomware gang taken down in latest law enforcement sting – but members have already formed a new groupNews The notorious gang has seen its servers taken down and bitcoin seized, but may have morphed into a new group called Chaos
