One of the biggest topics that was on everyone’s mind in the world of the internet and enterprise level cybersecurity was the recent rise in ransomware attacks. There have been countless attacks that received a lot of press coverage, but many companies try to cover their attacks up because they know that publicizing them would end up becoming a bit of a public relations problem even though hiding such a thing can cause more problems than it tends to solve.
In the interests of transparency, Claroty decided to conduct a survey of numerous cybsersecurity professionals that was implemented by an independent third party. These IT and OT professionals either worked or are currently working in organizations responsible for very serious things like critical infrastructure and the like, and 80% of them say that they have gone through a ransomware attack at some point in the past.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that pretty much all of the survey respondents that suffered a ransomware attack decided to treat it very seriously indeed. They all increased their budgets for cybersecurity in the past two years, and their main focus here tends to be preventing a second attack from occurring. Organizations that fall prey to one ransomware attack often end up assuming that they would never have to worry about it again, but the second attack is often even more severe than the first.
Another thing that can be noticed in this survey is that around 60% of the companies that suffered a ransomware attack ended up paying the ransom even though it is widely reported that doing so is a bad idea. That shows just how effective these attacks are since the costs of not being operational often exceed the costs of having to pay the ransom in the first place. There might be a shortage of staff that could be contributing to this issue, with 54% saying that they are struggling to find qualified operational technology staff that can help them bring their security needs up to scratch.
Read next: As 'working from home' is becoming a common trend, the IoT security risks are increasing too
In the interests of transparency, Claroty decided to conduct a survey of numerous cybsersecurity professionals that was implemented by an independent third party. These IT and OT professionals either worked or are currently working in organizations responsible for very serious things like critical infrastructure and the like, and 80% of them say that they have gone through a ransomware attack at some point in the past.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that pretty much all of the survey respondents that suffered a ransomware attack decided to treat it very seriously indeed. They all increased their budgets for cybersecurity in the past two years, and their main focus here tends to be preventing a second attack from occurring. Organizations that fall prey to one ransomware attack often end up assuming that they would never have to worry about it again, but the second attack is often even more severe than the first.
Another thing that can be noticed in this survey is that around 60% of the companies that suffered a ransomware attack ended up paying the ransom even though it is widely reported that doing so is a bad idea. That shows just how effective these attacks are since the costs of not being operational often exceed the costs of having to pay the ransom in the first place. There might be a shortage of staff that could be contributing to this issue, with 54% saying that they are struggling to find qualified operational technology staff that can help them bring their security needs up to scratch.
Read next: As 'working from home' is becoming a common trend, the IoT security risks are increasing too