European businesses are not ready for ransomware attacks

Ransomware was the number one way hackers attacked businesses in 2016, a new report by Radware confirms. Entitled Global Application and Network Security Report 2016-2017, it says 49 percent of European businesses confirmed cyber-ransom as the biggest motivator last year.

That basically represents a 100 percent increase compared to a year before, when it stood at 25 percent.

A quarter of IT pros in Europe say they fear either a partial or full outage, following a cyber-attack. Another quarter (23 percent) fear data leakage, or data loss, while 18 percent are worried about a ruined reputation. Another seven percent worry about service degradation, and six percent fear they’ll lose customers, or partners.

Being so well-aware of the dangers that loom, you’d suspect businesses would be prepared for cyber-criminals?

Think again. Less than half of businesses in Europe say they are well-prepared for a cyber-attack. More than four in ten (44 percent) have no cyber-security emergency response plan, whatsoever. Three quarters (77 percent) don’t have cyber-insurance, either.

"The message from our report couldn’t be clearer: Money is the top motivator in the threat landscape today", said Pascal Geenens, Radware’s EMEA security evangelist. "Attackers have expanded their skillset and are leveraging new tools in their attempts to access lucrative data. Whether it is a ransom attack to lock a company’s data, a DDoS smokescreen to facilitate information theft or a brute force attack to attempt to gain direct access to internal data, attackers have shown that unprepared businesses will be easy targets".

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