Intelligent CISO Issue 43 | Page 18

cyber trends
RANSOMWARE IS RAISING ITS HEAD AS THE NUMBER ONE CYBERSECURITY TREND POSING A THREAT TO GLOBAL ORGANISATIONS AND BUSINESS PROCESSES . KEITH GLANCEY , HEAD OF SOLUTIONS ARCHITECTS AT INFOBLOX , DISCUSSES THE SEVERITY OF THE RANSOMWARE THREAT IN THE CYBERSECURITY MARKET AND HOW ORGANISATIONS SHOULD IMPLEMENT THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY TOOLS TO BETTER PROTECT THEMSELVES .
ansomware is not a

R new phenomenon . However , with each year that passes , the threat it poses to both individuals and businesses seems to grow .

The ransomware pandemic and how businesses can protect themselves

With several high-profile companies falling victim to ransomware attacks in 2021 – including the UK arm of Salvation Army and Ireland ’ s Health Service Executive , it ’ s clear that no one is safe .
In fact , it is estimated that today there is at least one ransomware attack on a business every 11 seconds . The frequency of these attacks is far from diminishing their individual impact .
Quite the contrary , with recent research discovering that the average ransomware recovery costs for businesses have more than doubled in the past year , rising from US $ 761,106 in 2020 to US $ 1.85 million in 2021 . And that ’ s without the long-term reputational damage .
With attacks on the rise and the cost of falling victim more devastating than ever , it ’ s never been more important for businesses to take steps to minimise the ransomware threat and protect their employees and their customers . However , in the majority of cases , this is much easier said than done .
The perfect storm
Over the years , ransomware has become an increasingly popular attack method for hackers looking to gain a large return on investment . Time and time again , organisations are so desperate to avoid the downtime that follows an attack that they pay up , which is understandable . After all , when a business suffers downtime , every second , minute and hour that goes by results in more money lost . In the most extreme ransomware
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