61% of organizations exposed to ransomware by employee ignorance

Research from endpoint security software firm, Avecto, has found that 61% of office workers are ignorant of ransomware, leaving businesses exposed to the growing threat it poses.

The survey of over 1,000 office workers was commissioned by Avecto to gauge the level of awareness and security education in the workplace.

39% of respondents said they have no confidence that their employer has measures in place to protect them against cyber threats, or are unaware of what their employer is doing to safeguard their online safety.

While 58% of those surveyed feel their employer regularly updates them on cyber threats, over a quarter (28%) said that security education is rare or only provided after something has gone wrong, when it is often too late.

The prevalence of ransomware is creating significant implications for the business community. Reportedly, 4,000 ransomware attacks occur on a daily basis[1], earning cyber criminals over $208 million in first three months of 2016 alone[2]. According to recent statistics, 43% of ransomware victims were employees in an organization[3].

Paul Kenyon, co-CEO at Avecto, said the survey findings should act as a wakeup call to the business community:

“Employees might be a company’s greatest asset, but they are its greatest risk too. Ransomware is a very real threat to businesses and we need to do more to educate employees on the risk of attack from the internet, or even business applications that are used every day. Like anything, prevention is better than cure and to defeat these threats, it is vital to have proactive security measures in place and not rely on cleaning up after the attack.

“Good security starts with solid foundations on the endpoint, and unfortunately this is the area many organizations still fall down on. Getting the basics right, and ensuring employees are well educated on the latest threats is fundamental. Cyber security is a collective responsibility and we need to work together to stand up to cyber crime.”

For more information on ransomware and how to defeat it, please reference Avecto’s Ransomware Uncovered report, which helps to demystify the threat.

[1] https://www.justice.gov/criminal-ccips/file/872771/download

[2] http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/15/technology/ransomware-cyber-security/

[3] http://www.symantec.com/content/en/us/enterprise/media/security_response/whitepapers/ISTR2016_Ransomware_and_Businesses.pdf