The Best Way to Avoid Becoming the Next Ransomware Victim

October 19, 2022

Welcome to Town Hall with Gray Analytics. My name is Jay Town, and I am the Vice President and General Counsel at Gray Analytics. Today, I want to take a few minutes to help you and your company recognize the dangers of network insecurity and ransomware. It matters not the size of your company or the value of your data.

Hackers, cyber attackers, economic espionage affiliates, and ransomware attackers want it all. The value of proactive measures far outweighs the losses suffered at the hands of these attacks.

It is important to understand the scope of the threat:

Every 11 seconds: Estimated timeframe between ransomware attacks (attempted and successful).
$10.5 Trillion: This is the expected cost of cybercrime to the world economy in 2021 (doubled since 2015).
$540 Billion: Annual cost to the world in theft of trade secrets and intellectual property, primarily by China.
93%: Increase in ransomware attacks in 2021 over 2020, primarily out of Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
171%: Increase in ransomware attacks in 2020 over 2019…which was a record year.
98%: Percentage of companies that paid ransom when those companies had cyber insurance.
- The ransomware attackers are ALSO aware of this statistic.
$812K: Average ransomware ransom payment in the United States.
- 11% pay $1M or more.
$760K: Average cost of remediation after a ransomware attack (not including ransom).
95%: Percentage of ransomware attacks caused inadvertently by employee error.
207 Days: Average length of time for a business to recover from a ransomware attack.
$70M: Highest ransomware demand to date (July 2, 2021).
62%: Percentage of overall ransomware attacks are on SMALL and MEDIUM sized businesses.
4%: Percentage of businesses that do NOT receive decryption key after ransom is paid (1 in 25).
57%: Number of businesses that lose 20% of all customers after a ransomware attack.
13%: Number of businesses that lose 50% of all customers after a ransomware attack.

These are just a few of the alarming statistics that more than suggest the time is now to ensure your networks are safe.

And the federal government is becoming more aggressive with ensuring your networks are safe as well. The regulatory environment for cyber requirements has never before been as elaborate as it is now.

DOJ announced that Civil Cyber Fraud Initiative in 2021 where any government contractor, not just those operating in the DIB, must comply with NIST-800-171 standards or else potentially face False Claims Act exposure.

CMMC 2.0 will mandate that every defense contractor, from the big Primes down to the tire guy, have a cyber environment that has been certified at the proper security level…or those companies cannot participate in DOD contracting. At all!

Health Care providers, financial institutions, publicly traded companies, and countless other federal regulations have permeated the cyber landscape in the last year. Read more about federal regulations and cybersecurity requirements in one of our previous blogs.

If you are wondering if this applies to you or your clients, give us a call at Gray Analytics.

The best way to avoid becoming the next ransomware victim, victim of economic espionage, or falling out of cyber compliance in your commercial is to take these prophylactic measures.

We have gone to great lengths in the last two years to exercise sound personal hygiene because it made good sense. The same is true with our cyber hygiene.

Give us a call at Gray Analytics. We can help.

I’m Jay Town and this has been Town Hall with Gray Analytics.

Until next time…stay frosty!