Earlier ransom demands used to be on average $450,000 per claim. Between the first half of 2020 and 2021, the demand for ransom increased around threefold. The cybercriminals have been targeting small companies increasingly and such substantial growth in the recent past have made these kinds of attack huge problems for organizers. Also, the emergence of a large number of ransomware is also an increase in the risk that one faces.
A good sign is that in spite of the substantial increase in the ransom demand, the payout of the ransom demand on average has decreased in the same period of time. This is an indication that the rate of negotiation and data recovery has increased. Also, though the number of attacks on organizations has increased, the attackers have been continuing the use of less sophisticated attacks on many organizations.
There has been around a 28% of increase in the fund’s transfer fraud (FTF). Attacks involving the compromise of business email have increased too by around 51%.
The attackers targeted a huge number of small businesses, mainly small and micro-businesses. Around 57% of the total number of attacks were on organizations comprising of less than 250 employees in 2021. The automation in cyber-attacks has posed a huge problem. The use of remote access tools with vulnerabilities make the organization’s data at the risk of being exposed.
CEO of Coalition said “It’s clear that ransomware and other cyber crimes have escalated considerably in the past year. Bad actors are targeting everything from critical infrastructure to the corner store,”
“We believe that when organizations understand their risk profile and take proactive steps to reduce their risk, they can safely embrace new technology and remain resilient to cyber-attacks.”
