Ransomware Attacks Surge in 2021 – Are Enterprises Prepared?

The current state of cyber affairs is of particular concern, as ransomware attacks are increasing in volume and in both financial and reputational impact to organizations.

The threat of facing a catastrophic event that could either bring the company to a standstill or cause huge financial damage has piqued the interest of the C-suite recently. There is perhaps no other topic that is more important from a security perspective in terms of security and operational readiness.

According to Trend Micro's "How to Reduce the Risk of Phishing and Ransomware," 84 percent of US businesses experienced a phishing or ransomware security incident in the past year. According to Palo Alto Networks' "2021 Unit 42 Ransomware Threat Report", the average ransomware payment increased by 82 percent from US$312,000 in 2020 to US$570,000 in the first half of 2021.

Ransomware assaults are not new – then why, given the risks and vulnerabilities, is there such a lack of readiness, especially with the increased awareness of cybersecurity issues among higher-level executives?

This is due to several factors. The sophistication of the attacks is an important factor. Many companies are not prepared for the rapid development of attacks, including the use of third-party applications as carriers. This creates a lot of confusion, which hackers easily take advantage of.

The fact that ransomware attacks tend to target two areas of the infrastructure that have previously been overlooked – specifically applications and data stored in files – is a second important reason. The assumption that securing critical attributes in structured stores, securing application access, and relying on tried-and-true infrastructure deployment procedures leaves attackers with avenues to exploit to attack companies is out-dated.

Full Article: Ransomware Attacks Surge in 2021 – Are Enterprises Prepared?

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