Beancounters at IDC have warned that ransomware attacks are becoming common and in most cases, customers were left in a position where they felt they had no option but to pay the ransom demanded.
The firm also found that manufacturing and finance were the verticals hit most by ransomware, while transportation, communication and utilities/media industries reported the lowest rates of attack. The average ransomware payout was almost $250,000, but several incidents topped $1 million.
IDC vice president Frank Dickson said ransomware has become the enemy of the day.
“The threat that was first feared on Pennsylvania Avenue and subsequently detested on Wall Street is now the topic of conversation on Main Street. As the greed of cyber miscreants has been fed, ransomware has evolved in sophistication, moving laterally, elevating privileges, actively evading detection, exfiltrating data, and leveraging multifaceted extortion. Welcome to digital transformation’s dark side.”
IDC stressed that the sophistication of attacks was continuing to develop and there was a need for an evolving response for customers to keep data protected.
