The fifth Sophos State of Ransomware Report reveals the real-world ransomware experiences of 5,000 organizations across the globe, from root trigger by means of to severity of assault, monetary impression, and restoration time.
Based mostly on the findings of a survey of IT/cybersecurity leaders throughout 14 international locations, this yr’s report combines year-on-year insights with model new areas of examine. It features a deep dive into ransom calls for and ransom funds, and shines new gentle on the position of regulation enforcement in ransomware remediation.
Obtain the report back to get the total findings and skim on for a taster of a few of the subjects coated.
Assault charges have dropped, however restoration prices have elevated
59% of organizations have been hit by ransomware final yr, a small however welcome drop from the 66% reported in each the earlier two years. Whereas any discount is encouraging, with greater than half of organizations experiencing an assault, that is no time to decrease your guard.
Whereas the assault price has dropped over the past yr, general restoration prices (excluding any ransom fee) have soared to $2.73M, a 50% from the $1.82M reported in 2023.
Having your full property encrypted is uncommon
On common, slightly below half (49%) of a company’s computer systems are impacted by a ransomware assault. Having your full setting encrypted is extraordinarily uncommon, with solely 4% of organizations reporting that 91% or extra of their gadgets have been impacted.
Greater than half of victims now pay the ransom
For the primary time, greater than half (56%) of the organizations that had knowledge encrypted admit to paying the ransom to get better knowledge. Using backups has dropped barely from final yr (68% vs. 70%) whereas 26% used “different means” to get knowledge again which embody working with regulation enforcement or utilizing decryption keys that had already been made public.
A notable change over the past yr is the rise in propensity for victims to make use of a number of approaches to get better encrypted knowledge (e.g., paying the ransom and utilizing backups). Virtually half of organizations that had knowledge encrypted reported utilizing a couple of methodology (47%) this time round, greater than double the speed reported in 2023 (21%).
Ransom funds have soared – however victims hardly ever pay the preliminary sum demanded
1,097 respondents whose group paid the ransom shared the precise sum paid, revealing that the common (median) fee has elevated 5-fold over the past yr, from $400,000 to $2 million.
Whereas the ransom fee price has elevated, solely 24% of respondents saying that their fee matched the unique request. 44% paid lower than the unique demand, whereas 31% paid extra.
For extra insights into ransom funds, and lots of different areas, obtain the total report.
In regards to the survey
The report relies on the findings of an impartial, vendor-agnostic survey commissioned by Sophos of 5,000 IT/cybersecurity leaders throughout 14 international locations within the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific. All respondents characterize organizations with between 100 and 5,000 workers. The survey was carried out by analysis specialist Vanson Bourne between January and February 2024, and contributors have been requested to reply based mostly on their experiences over the earlier yr. Throughout the training sector, respondents have been cut up into decrease training (catering to college students as much as 18 years) and better training (for college students over 18 years).