Ransomware increasingly affects business productivity

Ransomware attacks are growing, and the number of victims is constantly increasing. According to figures from the new Ransomware Marketplace report, conducted by cybersecurity company Cover, an incident linked to a ransomware attack now lasts on average 16.2 days, compared to 12.1 in the third quarter of 2019. This increase is explained by an increase in attacks against large organizations or companies, for which network repairs and restoration can sometimes take several weeks.

"Businesses need to understand the magnitude of the repair process following a ransomware attack," Bill Siegel, CEO of Coveware, told ZDNet. “Reconnecting a backup and restoring a large amount of data takes a long time. These are huge projects that have to be done beyond theory, ”he adds.

A new year for pirates

The year is just beginning, but the ransomware has already hit hard. Travelex, a British foreign exchange company, for example, was hit on New Year's Eve, and some services are still offline when this article is published, more than three weeks later.

The report also states that the ransom amounts requested have exploded. The average payment doubled in just a few months: when it was $ 41,198 between July and September last year, it reached $ 84,116 for the period from October to December. Once again, the efficiency of ransomware on entire networks allows cybercriminals to raise their standards. And more and more organizations are willing to pay the ransom.

Prevention is better than cure

Still, companies can put things in place to protect themselves from ransomware and other cyber attacks, including following a few simple security procedures, such as using multi-factor authentication. "We note that authentication is still little used, when it would have prevented a large part of the attacks, or at least reduced their impact," insists Bill Siegel.

You should also make sure to update your system regularly, in order to benefit from the latest updates and security patches. Cybercriminals cannot take advantage of known vulnerabilities to gain access to the network and install ransomware.