The fifth Sophos State of Ransomware Report reveals the real-world ransomware experiences of 5,000 organizations across the globe, from root trigger via to severity of assault, monetary impression, and restoration time.
Based mostly on the findings of a survey of IT/cybersecurity leaders throughout 14 international locations, this 12 months’s report combines year-on-year insights with model new areas of research. It features a deep dive into ransom calls for and ransom funds, and shines new mild on the position of legislation enforcement in ransomware remediation.
Obtain the report back to get the complete findings and browse on for a taster of a few of the matters lined.
Assault charges have dropped, however restoration prices have elevated
59% of organizations have been hit by ransomware final 12 months, a small however welcome drop from the 66% reported in each the earlier two years. Whereas any discount is encouraging, with greater than half of organizations experiencing an assault, that is no time to decrease your guard.
Whereas the assault price has dropped over the past 12 months, general restoration prices (excluding any ransom cost) have soared to $2.73M, a 50% from the $1.82M reported in 2023.
Having your full property encrypted is uncommon
On common, just below half (49%) of a corporation’s computer systems are impacted by a ransomware assault. Having your full surroundings encrypted is extraordinarily uncommon, with solely 4% of organizations reporting that 91% or extra of their gadgets have been impacted.
Greater than half of victims now pay the ransom
For the primary time, greater than half (56%) of the organizations that had information encrypted admit to paying the ransom to get well information. The usage of backups has dropped barely from final 12 months (68% vs. 70%) whereas 26% used “different means” to get information again which embody working with legislation enforcement or utilizing decryption keys that had already been made public.
A notable change over the past 12 months is the rise in propensity for victims to make use of a number of approaches to get well encrypted information (e.g., paying the ransom and utilizing backups). Nearly half of organizations that had information encrypted reported utilizing a couple of technique (47%) this time round, greater than double the speed reported in 2023 (21%).
Ransom funds have soared – however victims not often pay the preliminary sum demanded
1,097 respondents whose group paid the ransom shared the precise sum paid, revealing that the typical (median) cost has elevated 5-fold over the past 12 months, from $400,000 to $2 million.
Whereas the ransom cost price has elevated, solely 24% of respondents saying that their cost matched the unique request. 44% paid lower than the unique demand, whereas 31% paid extra.
For extra insights into ransom funds, and lots of different areas, obtain the complete report.
In regards to the survey
The report is predicated on the findings of an unbiased, vendor-agnostic survey commissioned by Sophos of 5,000 IT/cybersecurity leaders throughout 14 international locations within the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific. All respondents signify organizations with between 100 and 5,000 staff. The survey was performed by analysis specialist Vanson Bourne between January and February 2024, and members have been requested to reply primarily based on their experiences over the earlier 12 months. Inside the training sector, respondents have been break up into decrease training (catering to college students as much as 18 years) and better training (for college students over 18 years).