UK firms are world leaders... in shelling out ransomware

The UK is not only under an increasing barrage of ransomware attacks – topping 33.5 million separate incidents in the past 12 months alone – but British firms are the most likely to pay off hackers to get their stolen data back, with mixed success.

That is the conclusion of two reports into the ransomware market from Proofpoint and Atlas VPN, which reveals 2021 to be the worst ever year for ransomware incidents.

According to Atlas VPN, globally the rate of attacks is doubling each year, with more than 623 million last year, up from 300 million in 2020 and 188 million in 2019. The US is by far the hardest hit on 421.5 million, and more than 12 times more likely to suffer a ransomware attack than second-placed Germany (34.2 million) and third placed Britain (33.5 million).

The research found that 82% of British firms which have been targeted by ransomware attacks have paid the hackers fees to receive the stolen data back, the global average was 58%.

Meanwhile, according to Proofpoint, over three-quarters of UK businesses were affected by ransomware attacks last year. But while negotiating with cyber-criminals is highly discouraged by governments, it has not prevented high-profile companies including JBS Foods and Colonial Pipeline paying the ransom fee in order to get their systems back online.

Even so, only half of the firms surveyed manage to get access back to to their data and systems, as criminals demanded more money once negotiations started.

Proofpoint researchers said that companies must build “a culture of security”, in order to avoid phishing attacks.

Proofpoint cyber-security strategist Adenike Cosgrove told the BBC: “A staggering amount of UK businesses experienced a phishing attack in 2021 and 91% of those attacks were successful. This compounds the fact that the UK is facing threats from all angles.”