Forty Percent of the UK Businesses Experienced a Ransomware Attack in the Past One Year, Thirty-three Percent Lost Revenue

The popularity of ransomware as a method of attack is on the rise, according to a new survey carried out by security outfit Malwarebytes, which reveals that 54% of the businesses in the UK have been hit by such attack in the past. The firm says the figures are worrying as 87% of all UK business believed they had the defenses in place to avert such attacks.

Ransomware refers to different versions of malicious software encrypts all the data on a target computer after taking control of it, thus making the data completely inaccessible for actual users.  The attackers then demand a payment from user in exchange for the encryption keys to make data accessible.

In its survey, Malwarebytes questioned 540 CISOs, CIOs, and IT heads at organizations employing on average 5,400 people in the US, UK, Canada and Germany.  The findings revealed that about 40% of the UK businesses experienced a ransomware attack in the past one year, about 33% lost revenue, and almost 10% were left “entirely unable to operate” as a result of such attacks.

According to survey results, 46% of the ransomware attacks begin with a dodgy email. Such attacks are hugely rewarding the crooks as 40% of all firms were forced to pay ransom to get their data unlocked. About 60% of attacks asked for $1,000 to unlock data, while 20% demanded for more than $10,000, 3% demanding in excess of $50,000, and 1% even ask for over $100,000.

The UK companies were found to be losing most in revenue (to ransomware) compared to other countries (up to 21 times more than US companies). Over half the UK businesses hit by ransomware eventually paid ransom to attackers. Surprisingly, 97% of firms in the US didn’t pay the ransom, while in Canada, only 25% of the affected firms didn’t pay the ransom.

It appears that in Britain, ransomware infections are more widespread, and UK firms are highly likely to pay ransom demands if data and machines become inaccessible.

“Cyber criminals are increasing their use of ransomware in their attack strategies globally, causing business disruption, loss of files and wasted IT man hours,” said Marcin Kleczynski, chief executive of Malwarebytes.

Last week, Europol – in association with Kaspersky and Intel Security – had announced the beginning of a fightback against ransomware through an online portal that has been designed to flag up the risks and provides thousands of decryption keys to people unlock their machines without needing to pay up a ransom.