We’ve seen it more frequently on the news lately, large global corporations in trouble for data breaches, hacks, and other gaps in security. But the truth of the matter is, these large corporations aren’t the only ones at risk. A recent report studied 1,700+ Managed Service Providers (MSPs) serving 100,000+ small-to-mid-sizes businesses (SMB) and the findings are alarming.
In 2017, global ransomware attacks soared. According to the report, 97% of MSPs agreed that ransomware attacks were more frequent in 2017 than years previous. Additionally, 86%reported that SMB clients were victimized throughout 2017 with 21% reporting 6 or more attacks in just the first half of 2017 alone.
On a positive note, more SMBs are beginning to report attacks to authorities and less are paying the ransom requested by the attackers. The total cost of ransom paid to ransomware hackers in 2017 was $301M. But, the ransom isn’t the worst part of the situation. As a result of the attacks, 75% of MSPs reported clients experienced business-threatening downtime. Of those victims that paid up, 15%were still unable to recover their data.
Hackers these days are limitless. Their methods are advanced and brutal. CryptoLocker is still the most common variant attacking SMBs, but new and aggressive strains pop up every single day.Viruses can attack a system multiple times making recovery more complex for the business affected.
According to 99% of MSPs, the frequency of SMB targeted attacks will continue to rise over the coming years.No industry, operating system, cloud,or device is safe from these attacks. Don’t let your business fall victim to attack. Make sure you have a reliable backup and disaster recovery solution in place.
If you need assistance upgrading your security and implementing a solution, trust the experts at NSA. Contact our team here to get started.