A recent report found that two-thirds, or 67 percent, of surveyed organizations have suffered a ransomware attack, about half have been hit multiple times, and 16 percent have been hit three or more times.
According to Fortinet’s Global State of Ransomware Report 2021 (PDF), released last week, most organizations report that ransomware is their top most concerning cyber-threat. That’s particularly true for respondents in Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Europe-Middle East-Africa, who report that they’re more likely to be victims than their peers in the U.S. or Canada.
That’s in spite of the fact that the majority of respondents feel prepared and report having a strategy that includes employee cyber training, risk assessment plans, offline backups and cybersecurity/ransomware insurance.
“There’s a disconnect … between the feelings of preparedness [and the high rate of attack],” said Derek Manky, Chief, Security Insights & Global Threat Alliances at Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs. “There’s a lot of confidence, [with organizations reporting] that they’re prepared to deal with the ransomware attack when it happens. But if we look at the tools and plans that they currently have in place through the survey, there seems to be a disconnect in terms of the technical capabilities and services that are available.”
In other words, Manky says, “It’s one thing to have something on paper. It’s another thing to actually test it and put it to a plan.”
Manky visited the Threatpost podcast recently to give us an in-depth look at the report’s findings.
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