90 percent of companies pay ransoms in the event of cyberattacks

According to the study, 93% of the international companies surveyed want to continue to pay ransoms in the event of a security attack and violate their "do-not-pay" policies in an emergency. Only 1 percent of companies categorically rule out paying a ransom. 35 percent of companies are prepared to pay more than 5 million US dollars to restore data and business processes. Two out of three respondents are willing to transfer more than 3 million in ransom money in an emergency.

Increasing security risks and massive problems with data recovery

Companies are affected by the force of cyber attacks for two reasons. Firstly, the methods of attack are becoming increasingly perfidious and, in addition, most companies' data is inadequately managed and secured. 78 percent say that the threat to their sensitive company data is growing even faster than the data pool as a whole - and this despite a rapid increase in the amount of data that can be collected, stored and analyzed in the business sector. On the other hand, the number of cyberattacks is constantly increasing. Almost all managers surveyed (96%) expect the threat of cyberattacks to increase significantly in 2024 compared to 2023.

Almost 4 out of 5 companies were victims of ransomware attacks between June and December 2023. Just as many (79 percent) doubt the effectiveness of internal cyber defense concepts. They say that their company's cyber resilience and data security strategies are not keeping pace with the current threat situation. 

Data recovery far too slow: lack of cyber resilience causes ransom payments 

Cyber resilience and business continuity challenges are widespread and diverse, as the Cohesity study shows:

• All companies surveyed need more than 24 hours to restore data and thus business processes
• Only 7 percent of respondents can recover data and business processes within 1 to 3 days 
• 35 percent need 4 to 6 days, for almost as many companies and specialist departments, data recovery takes 1 to 2 weeks 
• Almost one in four companies needs more than 3 weeks to restore data and business processes 

Companies test their processes too rarely

Further evidence of the lack of cyber resilience is that only 12% of companies have carried out a stress test of their processes or solutions for data security, data management and data recovery in the last six months. 46 percent have not tested their processes or solutions for more than 12 months.

 "Data security should be a top organizational priority across all functions and departments. The impact of a successful cyberattack or data breach on business continuity, revenue, brand reputation and customer trust is extreme," emphasizes Sanjay Poonen, CEO and President of Cohesity. "AI-powered solutions enable companies to respond very quickly to cyberattacks. These defense systems for better data security and more effective data management protect sensitive company information. They detect attacks on IT security and ensure that tapped files are quickly restored so that all business processes can continue."

Consequences of cyberattacks and successful data breaches

The most serious effects of security attacks are:

• Damage to brand and reputation (34 percent)
• Decline in share price / investments / profitability (31 percent)
• Direct decline in sales (30 percent)
• Loss of trust from business partners (39 percent)

Data security risks and attacks: management responsibility

There is some catching up to do when it comes to awareness and responsibility for threats. Only 35% of respondents say that management fully understands the "serious risks and daily challenges of protecting, securing, managing and recovering data". 67 percent state that their company's CIO and CISO in particular should coordinate better.

"The survey reveals that many organizations are taking far too long to recover their data and systems to avoid significant disruption," said James Blake, Global Head of Cyber Resiliency GTM Strategy at Cohesity. "Many organizations also admitted they would pay a ransom to shorten outages. However, ransom payments almost certainly result in the loss of some data. Not to mention that the ransomware operators were sanctioned. The last thing management needs after a ransomware attack is the prospect of hefty fines or imprisonment for violating sanctions."

Source: www.cohesity.com