Ransomware is still a major concern for IT professionals

ransomware

Ransomware has proved to be a successful business model for cybercrooks and a recent study shows that IT professionals still see it as a major and growing area of concern.

In a study by security awareness training specialist KnowBe4 88 percent of the 300 professionals surveyed said they expected ransomware to grow over the rest of this year. Attacks are also shifting from desktops to mobile devices, leading to problems for BYOD users.

According to KnowBe4 CEO Stu Sjouwerman, "IT staff are telling us their confidence in traditional endpoint security is falling, having decreased from 96 percent down to 59 percent in just six months. Between increased use of smartphones for email and legacy systems still running XP, there are a number of opportunities for the Russian cyber mafia to extort users".

81 percent of IT professionals say they depend on backups to bail them out from a ransomware attack. Yet this can prove to be a false hope. According to Microsoft, 42 percent of attempted recoveries from tape backups in the past year have failed -- though there's no word on how many companies still rely on tape as a backup medium.

Security awareness training though is recognized by 88 percent as the most effective protection from ransomware attacks. Sjouwerman adds, "An effective program such as Kevin Mitnick Security Awareness Training can reduce the risk of human error. We are so confident our training program is truly effective, we'll pay your ransom with Bitcoin if you get hit with ransomware while you are a customer".

To find out more about KnowBe4 training you can visit the company's website. A summary of the survey results is in infographic form below.

Image Credit: Robynrg/Shutterstock

InfoGraphic

3 Responses to Ransomware is still a major concern for IT professionals

© 1998-2024 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.