‘67% Indian firms paid ransom to get back data’
67% of Indian organizations whose data was encrypted paid a ransom to get back their data, a marginal increase from the previous year when 66% paid a ransom, according to the findings of ‘The State of Ransomware 2021’ survey by cyber security firm Sophos.
In fact, Indian organizations were the most likely to pay a ransom of all countries surveyed—the global average was just under one third (32%). The average ransom payment in India was $76,619. “However, paying up often does not pay off. Indian organizations that paid the ransom got back, on average, 75% of their data (compared to a global average of 65%) and only 4% got all their data back,” the report said.
The survey revealed that the average total cost of recovery from a ransomware attack has more than doubled in a year, increasing from $761,106 in 2020 to $1.85 million in 2021 globally. In comparison, the survey found that in India, the approximate recovery cost from the impact of a ransomware attack tripled in the last year, up from $1.1 million in 2020, to $3.38 in 2021.
The survey polled 5,400 IT decision makers in mid-sized organizations in 30 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, including 300 respondents in India.
The survey also found that 86% of Indian organizations believe cyberattacks are now too complex for their IT team to handle on their own, compared to a global average of 54%. The survey further revealed that of the organizations in India not hit by ransomware in the last 12 months, the overwhelming majority (86%) expect to become a target due to the increasing sophistication.
“While the proportion of organizations hit have declined compared to the previous year, Indian organizations are still far more likely to be hit than those in any other country surveyed. This could be due to the high level of domestic ransomware in India, as seen by SophosLabs, leading to a situation where Indian adversaries are targeting Indian organizations,” said Sunil Sharma, MD—sales, Sophos India and SAARC.
He added: “The findings further highlight the brutal fact that paying a ransom to get data restored can be illusory. Using decryption keys to recover information can be complicated as there is no guarantee of success.”