Ransomware is no longer a new threat for companies and organizations today. Last year, our security experts conducted an extensive analysis of the WannaCry strain, which you can find on the English version of the blog Acronis, and since last year, when the massive WannaCry and NotPetya campaigns took place, mainstream media have also begun reporting on ransomware attacks.
They have good reason to do so: While global damage caused by ransomware amounted to USD 300 million in 2015, last year damages exceeded USD 5 billion – an increase of 1,666% over two years – and in 2019, according to researchers at CyberSecurity Ventures, global damages will reach USD 11.5 billion. According to this year’s global survey among larger companies, 55% of them have already been affected by at least one ransomware attack.
The ransom is not the only money you will lose
You may have read that the WannaCry ransomware earned its creators more than USD 150,000, which is a significantly different amount from the USD 5 billion mentioned above. For companies, however, the paid ransom represents only a small share of the total damage caused by an attack – the damage consists of:
- Data loss (there is no guarantee that even if you pay the ransom, you will get your files back)
- Lost profits due to downtime
- The cost of recovery and restoring normal operations after the attack subsides
- Costs of forensic investigation
- Investments in new security measures
- Lost business opportunities due to reputational impact
- Employee training as a direct response to attacks
Only a small percentage of companies pay the ransom itself (according to Barkly, less than 5%), but restoring files from backups in a way that completely removes the infection from systems is often more demanding and time-consuming than it may seem at first glance. The most painful items on the damage list are therefore usually downtime and reputational decline. Intermedia Research survey shows that nearly three out of four companies attacked by ransomware were unable to access their data for two days as a result of the attack, while 30% of companies lost access to operational data for five or more days. For smaller companies, the average cost of a single incident is therefore around USD 713,000.
How can you stay safe?
The best strategy for protecting data (and money) remains backup. However, as we recently found, not every backup software solution can cope with a ransomware attack. The only backup solution integrated with artificial intelligence developed to detect and remove ransomware and enable subsequent automatic recovery – and therefore the safest solution in the world – is Acronis Backup and Acronis True Image.
In addition to using Acronis solutions, it is important to follow a few basic security rules:
- Use an anti-malware solution (and update its database regularly and frequently)
- Keep your operating system and all applications updated as well, so that you do not expose yourself to unnecessary risk of infection through already known vulnerabilities that have been patched in updated versions
- Be wary of phishing emails, and try to pass warnings about clicking links and attachments from not entirely trustworthy senders on to your family, friends, and colleagues.
As we have shown, the threat of a ransomware attack is real and continues to grow. The resulting damage is not limited to the ransom amount; on the contrary, it is generally made up primarily of operational downtime and lost opportunities resulting from diminished reputation. Preventing an attack using our Acronis Active Protection technology is simply the best way to pay as little as possible for a ransomware attack.
Based on English-language sources from Acronis.com
Article author: ZEBR.ai editorial team
