A recent study conducted by Cohesity reveals alarming trends in the UK’s response to ransomware attacks. According to the Global Cyber Resilience Report 2024, 53% of UK organizations experienced ransomware incidents in the past year, a significant rise from 38% reported in 2023. This increase in attacks is accompanied by a troubling willingness among victims to pay ransoms, with 59% of those affected admitting they chose to pay. Despite having policies in place against paying ransoms, 74% of British respondents indicated they would opt to pay if targeted.
The report underscores that the UK’s experience is not isolated. Globally, 67% of respondents reported falling victim to ransomware in the past year, with an even higher incidence in France, where 86% experienced attacks. This global perspective highlights a widespread issue where a substantial majority—83%—of international respondents would consider paying a ransom if attacked. The data reveals a discrepancy with earlier studies, such as Coveware’s report, which found that only 36% of ransomware victims paid in Q2 2024, down from 85% in Q1 2019.
The financial impact of ransomware is also significant. UK organizations that paid ransoms did so at an average cost of £870,000, with some entities paying between £10 million and £20 million. Globally, 5% of respondents reported paying over £10 million. This trend towards high ransom payments reflects a troubling reality where victims are often left with no choice but to pay to regain access to critical data, even though recovery is far from guaranteed.
Recovery from ransomware attacks remains a challenging process. The study found that only 4% of UK organizations fully recovered their data, and less than 2% managed to restore business processes within 24 hours. Most respondents experienced longer recovery times, with 23% taking 1-3 days and 19% requiring between three weeks and two months. James Blake, Cohesity’s global head of cyber-resiliency strategy, stresses the importance of robust cyber-resilience strategies. He argues that businesses must prioritize resilience and not merely meet regulatory requirements, to better withstand and recover from destructive cyber-attacks.
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