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Frequency of ransomware attacks revealed by cybersecurity company Lumu
Cybersecurity company Lumu is helping businesses understand the scope and scale of the ransomware threat with The 2020 Ransomware Flashcard .
Ransomware remains one of the most
pervasive and insidious security threats to enterprise organizations . In 2020 alone , dozens of recognized brands have been forced to disclose that their networks were breached and their data encrypted by a motley crew of global criminal organizations .
Beyond the disruption to their operations and the financial hit to their bottom line , these attacks have also caused considerable reputational harm to the brands themselves – which has increasingly become part of the calculus of criminal organizations intent on inflicting the maximum amount of damage possible . Ransomware attacks are hardly a new phenomenon . In fact , the first documented case dates back more than three decades when a scientist named
Joseph Popp distributed 20,000 floppy disks infected with the AIDS Trojan to attendees of the 1989 World Health Organization annual conference .
Over the past decade , ransomware has become the preferred malware vehicle for hackers and criminal organizations alike . Not only are there tens of thousands of variants that security teams need to defend against , but the threat actors themselves are no longer following the same playbook . Indeed , they ’ ve shown themselves to be more organized , systematic and intentional in how they select their targets and deploy their payloads .
To help businesses and their users better understand the scope and scale of the ransomware threat , Lumu , a cybersecurity company focused on helping companies measure compromise in real-time , has published The 2020 Ransomware Flashcard . This infographic-styled report compiles recent industry research data to show the frequency of ransomware attacks , the average cost of an attack , the geographic distribution of ransomware attacks and shows which industries are being targeted .
Ransomware operators are of course also feeling emboldened by the massive number of people now working remotely due to the pandemic , exploiting known security vulnerabilities in remote-desktop protocols and preying on the poor security practices of a workforce that is unfamiliar with proper remote security protocols .
Learn more about the ransomware threat and how to keep your users and network protected by visiting Lumu ’ s Ransomware Resource Center at https :// lumu . io / ransomware-center . •
28 INTELLIGENTCIO www . intelligentcio . com