UK businesses are most likely to pay up following a ransomware attack, new figures have claimed.
Research by security firm Malwarebytes found that almost half (49 per cent) of UK businesses would pay ransom following a ransomware attack.
Globally, the figure sits somewhat lower, at 42 per cent, according to Malwarebytes’ “Second Annual State of Ransomware Report”, which surveyed 1,054 companies across the UK, US, France, Germany, Australia and Singapore,
Among those UK businesses that did not pay the ransom after an attack, 46 per cent lost files. This is also the highest among all geographies surveyed.
The report also unveiled that the fee itself is not as destructive as downtime. For nearly three in five organisations attacked, the ransom was $1,000 or less, but for 15 per cent it caused 25 or more hours downtime. In some cases, downtime exceeded 100 hours.
“Businesses of all sizes are increasingly at risk for ransomware attacks,” said Marcin Kleczynski, Malwarebytes CEO. “However, the stakes of a single attack for a small business are far different from the stakes of a single attack for an enterprise. Our findings demonstrate that SMBs are suffering in the wake of attacks to the point where they must shut down operations. To make matters worse, most of them lack the confidence in preventing attacks; despite significant investments in defensive technologies. As a security community, it’s important that we thoroughly understand the battles that these companies are facing, so we can better protect them.”