Ransomware Trends and Risks Briefing

KLC Consulting provides updates on the latest ransomware trends and risks briefing, so check back often.

Trends

37% of companies experienced ransomware attacks; 32% paid the ransom to get the data back (Jan -Feb 2021)¹
40% of reported ransomware attacks were in The U.S.; 29% of the victims recovered less than half of their data after paying a ransom¹
Successful ransomware attacks in 2021 have doubled compared with 2020 during the same period1(Total ~65,000 in 2020²)
Recent high-profile victims paid significant ransom demands, e.g., Colonial Pipelines: $4.4M³; JBS: $11M³; CNA Financial: $40M⁴
Total average cost of recovery from a ransomware attack is close to $2M in 20211(Merck’s recovery from 2017 attack: $1.3B⁵)
Double extortion – Victim’s customers & suppliers also received ransom demands in exchange for destroying their stolen data

Ransomware criminal ecosystems are getting more sophisticated and cheaper to operate
Companies are usually not ready for ransomware attack response; lack of corporate incident response plan for ransomware

Conduct an independent assessment by a third-party firm on Corporate Incident Response Readiness for Ransomware in IT, PR, Communication, Legal, Insurance, Law Enforcement, Leadership Team, and Staff Training
Conduct an independent evaluation on your capability in ransom negotiation and payment initiation (if choosing to pay a ransom)
Conduct emergency drills to test and improve the cyber incident response plan effectiveness
Independently assess your IT’s capabilities in resiliency, prevention, detection, response, backup/recovery, and investigation