Is your organization prepared for a ransomware attack? In 2020 alone, ransomware attacks surged by 150%, with the average extortion amount doubling from previous years. Costs from ransomware can include everything from operational costs, business downtime, lost orders, and the general recovery process - and could reach close to $2 million in 2021.
However, you can never really estimate the cost of an attack because organizations typically don’t have a “one-size fits all” kind of pricing. Like many organizations, your business has many moving parts that influence how much a ransomware attack will affect - and cost - you.
It’s clear that ransomware attacks aren’t going anywhere anytime soon - in fact, these attacks are going to continue to cost your organization more every year that you go by without adding new layers of security to your technology stack or IT infrastructure. Cybercriminals don’t care what it is they’re breaching or how much it’ll cost you to remediate and repair all of the damages they’ve inflicted upon your organization.
2021 Update: What is Ransomware?From 1989 to 2021 and beyond, we project ransomware to remain the same in its goal: cybercriminals stealing network-critical assets and information siloed from access or recovery until their demands are satisfied.
This isn’t to knock off what adversaries have done in the last few years to mix up the traditional ransomware attack. In recent years, ransomware attacks and advanced malicious actors have incorporated machine learning and AI into their strategies to take down full networks and IT environments.
Besides advanced AI strategies, one of the key elements of a successful ransomware attack is often overlooked: patience. Patience always wins in the world of ransomware and that’s what we’ve seen lately in recent attacks. For instance, the ransomware responsible for the SolarWinds attack had been rooted within their system for many months prior to their headline breach.
So, How Much Can You Anticipate to Spend On A Ransomware Attack?Since ransomware attacks can affect organizations differently since there isn’t one singular figure to calculate. However, you can begin to estimate the financial cost by tallying up all external costs it would take to remediate any damage inflicted during an attack against your network environment. By determining the indirect costs of a ransomware attack, your organization can receive a clearer picture of the total costs of mitigating a ransomware attack.
Indirect Costs of Mitigating or Remediating a Ransomware attack:
Compuquip has been the backbone support for many organizations that have called our experts for assistance when rebuilding a fully operational - and secure - network after a ransomware attack. Remediating a ransomware attack can quickly accrue costs, some of which includeSimilar to managed security services, remediation services assist your organization by retrieving as much information as possible, removing any ransomware on the surface and backend of your organization, and ensuring nothing else goes wrong. More often than not, we see adversaries take a full backup off-site before they do the ransomware; this prevents the business from simply restoring from backups. Since adversaries have the data, they can expose it online if not paid. Imagine if a bank's records were dumped on the web, with people's names and total account worth online - the damage not only affects your business, but also your customers! On average, you can expect remediation services to cost your company tens of thousands of dollars.
Similar to managed security services, remediation services assist your organization by retrieving as much information as possible, removing any ransomware on the surface and backend of your organization, and ensuring nothing else goes wrong. More often than not, we see adversaries take a full backup off-site before they do the ransomware; this prevents the business from simply restoring from backups. Since adversaries have the data, they can expose it online if not paid. Imagine if a bank's records were dumped on the web, with people's names and total account worth online - the damage not only affects your business, but also your customers! On average, you can expect remediation services to cost your company tens of thousands of dollars.
We’ve all heard it before, but it’s true - an Incident Response professional will help salvage your organization after a ransomware attack. Your organization's incident response plan, or list of security policies, should always be prepared for an attack, regardless of if your organization has an internal IT team or requires outsourced help. Mitigation is key but how do you get back up when your organization has suffered a major breach of data? IR teams can help by understanding how the breach happened and making recommendations to prevent a similar attack path to be used again. Remediation and verification of security solutions are the last steps in an IR engagement.
It’s important to have your organization represented legally by a trusted firm when litigating. We’ve seen companies take matters into their own hands and it never ends well.
You’ll often see cyber insurances provide you with resources, depending on the attack - emphasis on “depending”. Cybercriminals are familiar with these policies and know the gray areas, which they can weaponise against your organization by making sure your insurance doesn’t fully cover the expenses they’ve caused.
It only takes one bad ransomware attack for your organization to end up as the headline with untold reputational damage. Unfortunately, there is no price tag on what it would cost for your organization's brand to lose the trust it has with its current customers and any future customers when your organization has been attacked publicly. Reputational damage is further worsened if all or the majority of customers' sensitive information are accessible to these malicious actors.
Ransomware is here to stay and it’s more important than ever to be prepared! We can’t blame ransomware solely on negligence or the lack of experience of cybersecurity experts working on your network; although these factors can all contribute to network vulnerability, they’re not the only reasons to blame.
Cybersecurity experts are hard to come by - when your organization finally lands a cybersecurity expert, odds are they won’t be there for the long haul. With Compuquip, you can gain peace of mind knowing our experts are here to stay. We can assist your organization's cybersecurity professionals to close the gap that allows ransomware insertions, develop security policies, IR’s plans or manage your network for threats on 24/7 bases. Contact our team today to understand more about how we can assist your organization remain battle-ready and ransomware-free.