And by integrating with other best-of-breed security solutions, you can speed up detection and response.Ĭritically, business leaders need to develop a culture of cyber security awareness and safe online conduct that limits the organisation’s exposure to risky individual action by employees. Recent Mimecast research found that 95% of SA IT decision-makers use additional third-party solutions to better secure their business email platforms, with nearly half (47%) identifying ransomware as a reason. What can organisations do in response to the growing threat of ransomware attacks? A layered security approach that protects the transmission and storage of data while empowering every employee from the shop floor to the top floor with skills and knowledge to avoid risky online behaviour is proven to reduce cyber security related risks.Įmail, still a favoured attack vector for cyber criminals, needs to be secured with additional security tools that can block highly targeted, sophisticated attacks. And cyber insurance is no longer the silver bullet: many insurance firms no longer cover the cost of ransomware payments. Ransom payments actually play into the hands of criminals. When an organisation suffers a ransomware attack and makes the payment it becomes a prime target for future attacks. Mimecast research found that 53% of SA organisations that had suffered a ransomware attack paid the ransom, but only 60% actually recovered their data - four out of every 10 never got their data back despite paying the ransom. In a desperate bid to get their data back, avoid downtime and prevent damage to their customers and reputations, organisations are paying huge sums to these criminal organisations. Organisations also have to contend with the requirements of the Protection of Personal Information Act, which has strict guidelines for protection against and disclosure of any data breaches, including where ransomware has been utilised. Worryingly, it took SA organisations an average of 177 days to identify a data breach and another 51 days to contain it. According to research by the Ponemon Institute, data breaches cost SA organisations an average of $2.14m, about R30m, per breach. Those hit by ransomware experienced an average of seven days of downtime and for 44% it was a week or more. The cost of these attacks, or any type of successful cyber attack, is immense. Nearly half (47%) of SA organisations in Mimecast’s State of Email Security report said they were hit by a ransomware attack in the past year, with consequences ranging from business interruption (53%) and financial losses (38%) to negative impact on regulatory compliance (30%).
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Downtime poses the risk of organisations not being able to deliver services, which can be catastrophic when it affects critical national infrastructure such as power grids and ports.Īfter a series of highly publicised ransomware attacks on businesses and critical US infrastructure, the US department of justice announced it is elevating investigations of ransomware attacks to a similar priority level as terrorism.Īustralia’s defence ministry has set up a specialised cyber security centre to tackle ransomware, and other forms of cyber attack, head-on, and the European parliament, alarmed at even prepandemic increases in ransomware attacks, briefed members on strategies to protect Europe’s highly lauded electricity grid.Ĭloser to home, businesses - already under pressure from successive restrictive lockdowns, ongoing energy constraints and weak economic growth - are besieged by a growing volume of all forms of cyberattack. Ransomware attacks usually force organisations offline, leading to major disruptions within organisations and their supply chains. While ransomware attacks have been growing in volume and sophistication, it was not until the last year or so that they gained the mainstream attention we see today. In the midst of the general upending of life-as-usual, a rising threat is posing additional challenges to organisations. In scenes reminiscent of action thrillers, hi-tech criminal organisations are targeting high-value organisations and critical national infrastructure.ĭata is being locked away in encrypted formats and criminals are demanding ransoms of millions in exchange for the release of data or, in some cases, the promise not to release sensitive customer and company information such as passwords and ID numbers publicly (in what is known as double extortion attacks). From pandemic-enforced changes in the ways businesses operate to constrained economic growth and stifled demand for many services, business leaders across industries have their hands full. It’s not a stretch of the imagination to describe the current business environment as hostile.