Ransomware has emerged as the number one cyber threat to organisations. Currently it accounts for 12% of critical infrastructure breaches with an average cost of $4.54 million per incident. These issues have garnered increased public attention due to high-profile attacks in key sectors including manufacturing, infrastructure, healthcare, and banking.
The potential damage inflicted by a successful ransomware attack is wide-ranging. Beyond the initial business disruption – where recovery times take an average of 23 days – and the cost of paying ransoms, companies face ongoing reputational damage. Further after-effects include the loss of IP, suspension of business operations, C-level resignations and forced lay-offs.
To counteract these risks, there are three key areas enterprise IT leaders need to consider:
1. Implementing a protection strategy, which covers aspects such as security and access policies, audits, sensitive data classification and compliance. For a deep dive into this topic, read our definitive guide to Enterprise Data Protection.
2. Testing and improving their speed of recovery, including recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO).
3. Improving the probability of early detection of potential ransomware attacks, including detection of anomalies and malware scanning. In nearly two-thirds of ransomware incidents reported since 2020, the attackers dwelled in the network for at least six months before detection.
In my video beneath, I offer insights on how technology solutions can help organisations manage all three of these areas. Along with highlighting how leaders can mitigate the potential impact of a ransomware attack by reducing the risk of a data incident occurring and increasing their ability to react swiftly.
