61 percent of companies hit by ransomware in 2020

The latest State of Email Security report from Mimecast, based on a study of over 1,200 IT and cybersecurity leaders, shows businesses faced unprecedented cybersecurity risks in 2020.

Ransomware impacted 61 percent, a 20 percent increase over last year's report, while 79 percent say their companies experienced a business disruption, financial loss or other setback in 2020 due to a lack of cyber preparedness.

Companies affected by ransomware lost an average of six working days to system downtime, with 37 percent saying downtime lasted a week or more. More than half (52 percent) of ransomware victims paid the threat actor ransom demands, but only two-thirds (66 percent) of those were able to recover their data. The remaining third (34 percent) never saw their data again, despite paying the ransom.

Other findings include an increase in email usage in eight out of 10 companies, while 47 percent of respondents say they saw an increase in email spoofing activity. 71 percent said they are concerned about the risks posed by archived conversations from collaboration tools.

40 percent of those surveyed say their organizations fall short in one or more critical areas of email security, leaving employees open to phishing, malware, business email compromise and other attacks. In addition 43 percent say that employees' lack of awareness about cybersecurity is one of their greatest vulnerabilities.

You can get the full report from the Mimecast site.

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