A survey of more than 1,400 MSP decision-makers that manage the IT systems for small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) found that ransomware remains the most common cyber threat to SMBs.
Datto announced the findings from its fourth annual Global State of the Channel Ransomware Report.
The report found that Ransomware attacks were pervasive. The number of ransomware attacks against SMBs is on the rise. More than 85 percent of MSPs reported attacks against SMBs over the last two years, compared to 79 percent of MSPs who reported the same in 2018. In the first half of 2019 alone, 56 percent of MSPs reported attacks against SMB clients.
A “disconnect” exists on the significance of ransomware as a threat. More than 89 percent of MSPs report that SMBs should be very concerned about the threat of ransomware. However, only 28 percent of MSPs report SMBs are very concerned about the threat. The cost of the the ransomware is high.
More than 64 percent of MSPs report experiencing a loss of business productivity for their SMB clients while 45 percent report business-threatening downtime. The average cost of that downtime is $141,000, a more than 200 per cent increase over last year’s average downtime cost of $46,800. The report also uncovered that the cost of downtime is now 23 times greater than the average ransom request of $5,900.
Business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) solutions have continued to prove to be the most effective in lessening the impact of a ransomware attack. Ninety-two percent of MSPs report that their clients with BCDR solutions in place are less likely to experience significant downtime during an attack. Also, four out of five MSPs state victimised clients with BCDR tools in place recovered from an attack in 24 hours or less, while less than one in five MSP clients without BCDR were able to do the same. MSPs are in a unique position today to educate SMBs on how to protect against a ransomware attack, including employee training and the tools to implement.
Ryan Weeks, Chief Information Security Officer at Datto said: “MSPs need to set the tone for their SMB customers when it comes to preparing for and responding to ransomware attacks. They need to protect themselves first by improving their organization’s cyber hygiene to keep their clients safe.”
