Ransomware Costs Businesses Record-High $1 Billion in 2023 Your 5-Step Plan to Prevent Attacks in 2024 By Fisher Phillips 2023 was the most devastating year yet for ransomware attacks, with businesses forking over $1 billion in ransom payments for the first time ever — and 2024 is expected to be even worse. Beyond the payments, the average cost of each ransomware attack last year was over $5 million. Given these unprecedented statistics, ransomware attacks could be the largest looming threat to your business in 2024. This insight provides a clear five-step plan to help you lower the odds of falling prey to a costly attack. The Basics • Ransomware is malicious software that blocks access to computer systems or files until you pay a sum of money to the cybercriminals who have infiltrated your business. They gain access by exploiting system vulnerabilities (sometimes through a third party or vendor that has access to your system) or by luring your employees into clicking on links or attachments or responding to phishing emails or “smishing” texts (phishing through SMS texts). • The $1.1 billion tally of ransoms paid in 2023 was particularly shocking because it nearly doubled the $567 million in ransoms paid out in 2022. • Not including the payouts, the average cost of a ransomware attack — including detection and escalation, notification, post-breach response and lost business — rose to $5.13 million in 2023, which represents a 13% increase from 2022. • Federal and international law enforcement have deployed extensive efforts to minimize ransomware attacks on a global scale. In fact, the FBI and UK National Crime Agency made headlines as they implemented “Operation Cronos” and disrupted one of the world’s most potent ransomware attackers. • Despite law enforcement’s efforts to smother these cyber threats, experts project an increase in cyber syndicates in 2024. Allan Liska, threat intelligence analyst at cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, commented, “A major thing we’re seeing is the astronomical growth in the number of threat actors carrying out ransomware attacks.” Recorded Future reported 538 new ransomware variants in 2023. 5-Step Plan for Businesses to Prevent Costly Ransomware Attacks in 2024 1. Provide Updated Cybersecurity Training You should provide updated and robust cybersecurity training to all your employees (including very busy executives) on an annual basis. According to the 2023 Cost of Data Breach Report (CODBR), phishing and compromised credentials were the most common 14 SAN DIEGO DEALER
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