Bitdefender study: 46% of German respondents believe that their company would pay a ransom if necessary. German companies expect an increase in ransomware, according to Liviu Arsene, global cybersecurity researcher at Bitdefender.
Ransomware remains a hit. This was most recently highlighted by the annual report of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI): Ransomware is "still one of the greatest threats to companies, authorities and other institutions as well as to private users" (https://www.bsi.bund.de /DE/Publikationen/Lageberichte/lageberichte_node.html). It is clear that most companies' protective measures are not keeping pace with the evolving strategies of cyber criminals. Bitdefender now provides new figures on how much ransom attacks have increased in Germany in the wake of the pandemic in a special evaluation of its study "10 in 10". After the global values were published, the company also took a close look at the 513 German answers.
The most important results of the study "10 in 10"
- Four in ten (39%) IT security professionals report that they have seen an increase in ransomware attacks in the wake of the pandemic (43% worldwide).
- Six in ten (60%) expect a further increase in the next 12 to 18 months (63% worldwide).
- A third (34%) fear that a ransomware attack could wipe their business out in the next 12 to 18 months if it does not increase its investment in security (42% globally).
- 46% of German respondents believe that their company would make a payment to prevent information or data from being published (50% worldwide).
- Four in ten (39%) agree with "I have seen a resurgence of ransom attacks while protecting against them has not progressed as much in the past five years" (43% worldwide).
- 44% agree with "As more and more people are working from home, my primary cybersecurity concern is that my company will suffer a large-scale ransom attack." (49% worldwide)
- Accordingly, the fears of the German respondents are consistently a few percentage points below the international results. Nevertheless, there is no reason to assume a lower risk situation in Germany. On the occasion of its annual report on ransomware, the BSI writes: “Among other things, there was a trend towards targeted attacks on financially strong victims. Automobile manufacturers and their suppliers, various airports or airlines, but also lesser-known companies with high sales were attacked. Public administration institutions and universities were also affected, as well as medical institutions, especially hospitals. "(https://www.bsi.bund.de/DE/Publikationen/Lageberichte/lageberichte_node.html)
Ransomware: reputational damage and downtime
The Bitdefender study also shows what the German respondents fear most often as a result of a ransom attack on their own company. At the top is reputational damage (named by 40%), followed by increased downtimes and interruptions in business continuity (36%) and personal effects on people, such as customers, employees or salespeople (33%).
The fact that the risks are increasing is clearly related to the Corona crisis. Security experts are concerned about the security implications of working from home. A third (34%) feared that their environment would make employees more relaxed about security issues. A third (33%) are also concerned that employees are not following the established security protocol, particularly with regard to identifying and reporting suspicious activity.
Security guides and VPNs against new attack vectors
According to the survey, 60% in Germany had no plan for a pandemic-like situation. Four out of five respondents (80%) confirmed that attacks increased during the crisis. The most important short-term measures included providing security guides and VPNs.
It is obvious what the current fear of ransomware infections is related to: With the hasty reconfiguration of corporate infrastructures to support home offices, new attack vectors are open to ransomware campaigns. According to the survey, the most important lessons that will emerge from the crisis in the long term include the need for 24/7 IT support and IT security training, as well as better visibility of vulnerabilities and an inventory of all end devices.
It will take time to implement these measures, make investments, and find and fix all security gaps. It is still to be expected that cybercriminal organizations will use this time window to their advantage.
Directly to the study as PDF at Bitdefender.com
About Bitdefender Bitdefender is a leading global provider of cybersecurity solutions and antivirus software, protecting over 500 million systems in more than 150 countries. Since it was founded in 2001, the company's innovations have consistently ensured excellent security products and intelligent protection for devices, networks and cloud services for private customers and companies. As the supplier of choice, Bitdefender technology is found in 38 percent of security solutions deployed around the world and is trusted and recognized by industry experts, manufacturers and customers alike. www.bitdefender.de