LONDON United Kingdom – Nearly a quarter of businesses have suffered a ransomware attack, with a fifth occurring in the past 12 months, according to new report.
The Hornetsecurity 2022 Ransomware Report, which surveyed over 2,000 IT leaders, revealed that 24% have been victims of a ransomware attack, with 20 percent of attacks happening in the last year.
Cyber attacks are happening more frequently. Last year’s ransomware survey revealed 21 percent companies experienced an attack; this year it rose by three percent to 24 percent.
“Attacks on businesses are increasing, and there is a shocking lack of awareness and preparation by IT pros,” said Hornetsecurity CEO, Daniel Hofmann. “Our survey shows that many in the IT community have a false sense of security. As bad actors develop new techniques, companies like ours have to do what it takes to come out ahead and protect businesses around the world.”
Microsoft 365 users targeted by attackers
The 2022 Ransomware Report highlighted a lack of knowledge on the security available to businesses. A quarter 25 percent of IT professionals either don’t know or don’t think that Microsoft 365 data can be impacted by a ransomware attack.
Just as worryingly, 40 percent of IT professionals that use Microsoft 365 in their organization admitted they do not have a recovery plan in case their Microsoft 365 data was compromised by a ransomware attack.
Lack of business preparedness
Industry responses showed the widespread lack of preparedness from IT professionals and businesses. There has been an increase in businesses not having a disaster recovery plan in place if they do succumb to the heightened threat of a cyber attack.
In 2021, 16 percent of respondents reported having no disaster recovery plan in place. In 2022, this grew to 19 percent, despite the rise in attacks.
The survey also showed that 21 percent of businesses that were attacked either paid up or lost data. Hackers have an incentive to run these ransomware attacks because there’s a decent chance that they’ll get a payday – 7 percent of IT professionals whose organization was attacked paid the ransom, while 14 percent admitted that they lost data to an attack.
“Interestingly, 97 percent of pros are moderately to extremely confident in their primary protection method, even if they don’t use many of the most effective security measures available, such as immutable storage and air-gapped off-site storage,” Hoffman said. “This tells us that more education is needed in the field, and we’re committed to this cause.”
