A UK based Software Security Company, Sophos, released its annual ransomware report which stated that the price of ransomware attacks is increasing and local governments are getting the most affected by this. In ransomware attacks, the criminals steal important data from a company and give them back only after receiving a price. This can ruin a company because the data stolen is often important for the company or institute to regulate and it cannot be gotten back until the ransom is paid.
The report said that almost 60% of the companies surveyed have fallen victim to ransomware attacks in 2024 while 66% of the companies were victim to ransomware attacks in the same period of 2023. The victim companies in 2024 say that even though there's a slight decrease in ransomware attacks, the price for ransom has increased a lot.
The lowest average ransom payment was done by IT and Telecom companies at $300,000. Government and lower education agencies paid the most ransom with an average of $6.6 million. The report also stated that financial and business agencies were most likely to reduce their ransom through negotiations while higher education institutions were least likely to and often paid more than what was initially demanded.
Researchers also said that the rise of AI is going to increase ransomware attacks. Even though most ransomware attacks are targeted towards large organizations, 47% of small companies with less than $10 million revenue also fell victim to ransomware attacks. Sophos says that ransomware attacks can be executed by large sophisticated gangs but can also be done by small low skilled criminals.
Read next: Samsung Makes Google Messages The Default Option For New Galaxy Devices After Getting Rid Of Its Preinstalled Samsung Messages App
The report said that almost 60% of the companies surveyed have fallen victim to ransomware attacks in 2024 while 66% of the companies were victim to ransomware attacks in the same period of 2023. The victim companies in 2024 say that even though there's a slight decrease in ransomware attacks, the price for ransom has increased a lot.
The lowest average ransom payment was done by IT and Telecom companies at $300,000. Government and lower education agencies paid the most ransom with an average of $6.6 million. The report also stated that financial and business agencies were most likely to reduce their ransom through negotiations while higher education institutions were least likely to and often paid more than what was initially demanded.
Researchers also said that the rise of AI is going to increase ransomware attacks. Even though most ransomware attacks are targeted towards large organizations, 47% of small companies with less than $10 million revenue also fell victim to ransomware attacks. Sophos says that ransomware attacks can be executed by large sophisticated gangs but can also be done by small low skilled criminals.
Read next: Samsung Makes Google Messages The Default Option For New Galaxy Devices After Getting Rid Of Its Preinstalled Samsung Messages App
