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A new survey by KnowBe4, a security awareness training & integrated phishing platform, shows the growing volume of ransomware victims despite increased efforts to prevent it. 1138 companies across a variety of industries participated. The study compares levels of concern over ransomware from 2014 to 2016

The results showed there is growing apprehension over ransomware, rising to 79% from 73% of those who are very or extremely concerned about it. There was a huge jump in companies hit directly by ransomware at 38% in 2016 compared to 20% in 2014. Midsize companies 250 -1000 were the hardest hit at 54%. Two out of three knew someone who was hit at 65% compared to 43% in 2014. IT professionals surveyed are even more worried ransomware will continue to grow scoring 93% over 88% in 2014. Additional highlights of the study include:

• 61% feel email attachments pose the largest threat compared to 47% in 2014.

• Companies with 1000+ employees have been hit by ransomware 41% and below 250 at 35%.

• 71% of Tech companies know someone who has been hit, higher than education and banking who hover at or slightly above 50%.

• Manufacturing has been hit the hardest at 54% compared with 44% in Healthcare, Education at 35%, Tech at 29% and Banking at 28%.

• 89 % consider Security Awareness Training the most effective protection from ransomware, immediately followed by backup 83%, almost identical to 2014.

• Only 19 % feel their current solutions are very effective, while 70% feel they are somewhat effective.

• Confidence in email and spam filtering effectiveness is 72%.

• If faced with 4 hours of lost work from ransomware encryption, only 40% would rely on backup compared with 81% in 2014. 51% would just reformat and start from scratch (nuke).

• The study asked when confronted with a scenario where backups have failed and weeks of work might be lost, 42% would begin with paying the $500 ransom and hope for the best vs 57% in 2014.

"We thought it would be interesting to see the level of impact that ransomware has had over the last few years. The threat of ransomware is very real and IT professionals are increasingly realizing traditional solutions are failing," said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of KnowBe4. "IT pros agree that end-user Security Awareness Training is one of the most effective security practices to combat these ransomware threats."

Surprisingly, only 40% would rely on backup to solve the situation. However, faced with the potential scenario of several weeks of failed backups, nearly half say they would be forced to pay the ransom. This can have a grave impact on organizations as backups fail 50-66% of the time, according to the method used (tape vs cloud). According to a report by Symantec, 47% of enterprises lost data in the cloud and had to restore their information from backups, 37% of SMBs have lost data in the cloud and had to restore their information from backups and 66% of those organizations saw recovery operations fail.

Sjouwerman further stated, "Our study shows corporate awareness of phishing attack vectors has increased but users need more help as techniques evolve and criminal exploits become more sophisticated. The overwhelming majority of IT pros think the criminals behind ransomware should be prosecuted and sent to jail for a long time. KnowBe4 agrees, but US law enforcement has no jurisdiction in Eastern Europe where these criminals are largely free to commit their crimes, and we have to rely on our own ingenuity to recognize these threats."

According to report by EMA, 41% of employees still receive no security awareness training, and the programs that do exist have varying effectiveness. KnowBe4 recommends frequent simulated phishing attacks to keep employees aware and on their toes. The company is so confident about the effectiveness of their program they offer a crypto-guarantee.
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