Research Reveals Two-Thirds of Organizations Infected with Ransomware Multiple Times, with One-in-Five Infected More than Ten Times
June 26 2024 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Halcyon Releases Report Exploring the Business
Risks of Ransomware & Data Exfiltration
Halcyon, the leading platform designed from day one to defeat
ransomware, today released new research detailing the significant
impact on businesses from ransomware attacks and data exfiltration
over the past 24 months. According to the Ransomware and Data
Extortion Business Risk Report, one-in-five (18%) suffered a
ransomware infection 10 or more times in a 24-month period,
one-in-five (18%) were infected 5-9 times, and 30% were infected
2-4 times.
Data exfiltration occurs in nearly every major ransomware attack
today, and nearly two-thirds (60%) of respondents said that
sensitive or regulated data was exfiltrated from their
organization, with more than half (55%) reporting the attackers
issued an additional ransom demand to protect the exfiltrated data.
As well, 58% of victims reported that the loss of sensitive data
put their organizations at additional risk of regulatory action and
lawsuits.
“The C-suite and BoD need to recognize that most of these
attacks today are basically data exfiltration attacks with some
ransomware sprinkled in, and once the data is exfiltrated the
damage is done,” said Jon Miller, CEO & Co-founder, Halcyon.
“Data exfiltration, in many cases, is a bigger problem for the
victim organization than the disruption to operations because, as
the report highlights, even if an organization pays the ransomware
demand, these criminals still have that data, putting victim
organizations and their leadership at heightened risk of lawsuits
and regulatory actions.”
The report also revealed a strong disconnect between perception
and reality when it comes to prevention and resilience against
ransomware and data extortion attacks. Fully 88% of respondents
indicated they were somewhat or very confident their organizations’
current security deployments could disrupt an attack before a
ransomware payload is delivered, and 85% were somewhat or very
confident their organizations could quickly resume regular
operations following a successful attack. Yet more than
one-in-three (36%) were Infected 5 times or more over the two-year
period.
Furthermore, 62% of organizations hit by ransomware reported a
major disruption in operations, with 38% saying operations were
disrupted for at least two months to more than six months. These
findings clearly show that organizations are overly confident in
their ability to defend against and quickly recover from ransomware
attacks.
“The disconnect between perceived and actual risk is not helping
organizations be more resilient to ransomware attacks,” said
Anthony M. Freed, Director of Research and Communications, Halcyon.
“While most respondents feel confident their current security
deployments are adequate for both prevention and recovery, the data
shows that the majority of attacks are nonetheless successful and
victim organizations are struggling to get operations back up and
running, which is what is driving up these post-attack recovery
costs.”
Other key findings in the report include:
- In all cases, ransomware attackers successfully bypassed
security prevention controls;
- Of the organizations that opted to pay a ransom demand, the
majority (78%) said the attackers failed to provide a working
decryptor or data was corrupted upon decryption;
- Fifty-nine percent of participants indicated incident response
costs were more than $1 million;
- More than half (57%) said the attacks will have a negative
impact long-term on their organization’s operations,
competitiveness, profitability or overall viability;
- Of the organizations that have cyber insurance, two-in-five
(39%) said their premiums increased significantly following a
ransomware attack, while more than one-quarter (28%) said premiums
increased slightly.
Research was conducted through an independent survey with
responses from 913 directors-level or above and members of the
security or IT teams that were targeted by a ransomware attack in
the past 24 months.
To read the full report, please visit:
www.halcyon.ai/blog/halcyon-ransomware-and-data-extortion-business-risk-report
ABOUT HALCYON
Halcyon is the leading anti-ransomware company. Global 2000
companies rely on the Halcyon platform to fill endpoint protection
gaps and defeat ransomware with minimal business disruption through
built-in bypass and evasion protection, key material capture and
automated decryption, and exfiltration and extortion
prevention.
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Media Contact Sarah Graham
fama PR for Halcyon halcyon@famapr.com