Downtime costs more than ransomware

You might think that having to pay for files locked by ransomware is costly, but it’s the downtime that actually hurts a business more.

Those are the results of a new survey conducted by cloud IT services company Intermedia. The survey, entitled 2016 Crypto-Ransomware Report, polled nearly 300 expert IT consultants about the current trends in malware.

According to the report, many firms do not have a business continuity plan, which would help them continue working while under a cryptolocker attack. Instead, they suffer costly downtime, with 72 percent not being able to access their files for two days, and 32 percent for five days, or more.

The results are obvious -- data recovery costs, reduced customer satisfaction, lost sales and, as Intermedia puts it, "traumatized employees".

There are two other important trends spotted in the report. One is that ransomware no longer targets just individuals and small firms -- it’s also targeting bigger businesses now. Almost 60 percent of businesses targeted by ransomware have more than 100 employees, and 25 percent have more than 1,000.

The second important trend is that ransomware is a growing industry. Walter Chamblee, director of Information Technology at Signaturefd.com, said, "Ransomware attacks are on the rise and are growing in complexity. Without the right protection measures in place, ransomware can be majorly disruptive to a business. In these cases, it’s the user downtime and the hassle for IT that’s far costlier, even if you pay the ransom".

The full report can be found on this link

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