Global Anti-Ransomware Day

This week also marked Global Anti-Ransomware Day. It was established on the anniversary of the WannaCry ransomware attack in 2017.

To commemorate the day, Kaspersky released a new survey that shows 88% of businesses hit by ransomware in the past would opt to pay again if there’s a next time. Across organizations that have yet to be victimized, 67% would be willing to pay, and they would be less inclined to do so immediately.

Ransomware remains a prominent threat, with nearly two-thirds of companies already having suffered an attack.

Business leaders within organizations that previously paid a ransom seem to believe that this is the most effective way to get their data back, with 97% of them willing to do it again, according to Kaspersky. This willingness for companies to pay could be attributed to having little awareness of how to respond to such threats, or to the length of time it takes to restore data, as businesses can lose more money waiting for data restorations than they would paying the ransom.

Sergey Martsynkyan is Kaspersky’s vice president of corporate product marketing.

“Ransomware has become a serious threat to corporations with new samples regularly emerging and APT groups using it in advanced attacks,” he said. “Even an accidental infection can cause problems for a company. And because it’s about the business’ continuity, executives are forced to make tough decisions about paying the ransom. Giving money to criminals is never recommended though, as this doesn’t guarantee that the encrypted data will be returned. And it encourages these cybercriminals to do it again. It is important for companies to follow basic security principles and look into reliable security solutions to minimize the risk of a ransomware incident. On Anti-Ransomware Day, it is worth remembering these practices.”