Costs of Ransomware to Your Business

There’s a meme floating around the interweb in which an employee candidate is asked what makes him suitable for the job. His response is that he hacked into the system and invited himself for a job. While that made us chuckle, our team understands the importance of not allowing these situations to occur. The costs of hackers, and worse, ransomware to your business, can be devastating.

What is ransomware?

Ransomware is malware that locks your keyboard or computer to prevent you from accessing data until a ransom is paid. Typically the ransom is requested in Bitcoin so it cannot be traced. The extortion of digital assets isn’t new but hackers have upped their game as ransom cryptware has evolved. Ransom cryptware is the malicious software used to lock your computers. Only the hacker has the private key to unlock the data.

What does this mean for your business? In 2020, at the height of the worldwide pandemic, 560 healthcare provider locations, 113 governmental agencies, and 1,681 colleges and universities were victims of malware attacks, according to Emsisoft State of Ransomware Report.

This was on the heels of the fourth quarter of 2019 which also saw a rise in attacks.

Other ransomware attacks occurred in meat production in Brazil and the Colonial Pipeline in the United States.

If you’re considering ransomware protection, ask yourself the following questions:

Is company data backed up and easily accessible?
Is all software up to date?
Have you implemented an antivirus and is it up to date?
How would you pay a hacker if your business experienced a cyberattack?

Most of our small and medium-sized business clients don’t know how to answer these questions. And maybe you don’t either. Make sure your business has ransomware protection so data is protected from attacks or pay the price. Spoiler alert: The costs aren’t just paying off a hacker.

Costs of Ransomware

Ransomware protection is an added cost for your business but it can be the one cost that saves the bottom line.

In the case of the Colonial Pipeline, mentioned earlier, the company paid hackers $4.4 million to get oil moving again. Not only was it a financial cost, but the shutdown also caused panic in oil and gas prices, caused consumers to rush to fill their tanks, and was a PR nightmare.

Most of our clients don’t have millions of dollars set aside awaiting payment to hackers for ransomware attacks. And why should they when there are solutions available.

What’s the cost of ransomware to your business?

The costs of ransomware to your business can devastate the bottom line. The forensics alone cost an average of $73,851 with the total recovery costing an average of $2 million. Other costs, aside from forensics to figure out who the hackers are and where they are located, include: