The vast majority of companies hit by ransomware attacks over the past year have paid up, according to an insurance specialist’s report that warns of mixed outcomes for those who do.
Business-to-home insurer Hiscox released its annual Cyber Readiness Report against a backdrop of concern over a series of cyber attacks on high profile names over the past six months, including Marks and Spencer, the Co-op and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).
The carmaker has been handed a £1.5bn loan guarantee by the government to help shield its vast supply chain, including many small firms, from the impact of a month-long shutdown of its factories.
While some have already laid off staff – a fraction of the 200,000 people employed among suppliers – many victims of hackers are small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) that would not attract such financial support by themselves.
There are no lengths to which cyber criminals will stoop – with hackers just last week threatening to release the personal data of children in the care of a nursery chain.
Hiscox said 27% of the 5,750 SMEs surveyed had been targeted with ransomware over the last 12 months. Of those, 80% had paid a ransom.
But Hiscox added that only 60% of those companies had successfully recovered all or part of their data after making a payment.
Almost a third of the firms to have paid a ransom were met with demands for more money, it said.
Source: Sky