Report: 71% of Nigerian Organisations Suffered Ransomware Attacks in 2021
Emma Okonji
A report by Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, has revealed that 71 per cent of Nigerian organisations were hit with ransomware in 2021, up from 22 per cent in 2020.
The annual international survey and review of real-world ransomware experiences, is called ‘State of Ransomware 2022’.
The report further said 44 per cent of the organisations that had data encrypted, and were hit by ransomware, paid ransom to get their data back, even if they had other means of data recovery, such as backups.
The report summarises the impact of ransomware on 5,600 mid-sized organisations in 31 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
Analysing the report, the Principal Research Scientist at Sophos, Chester Wisniewski, said the survey showed that globally, the proportion of victims paying the ransom continued to increase, even when they may have other options available.
“There could be several reasons for this, including incomplete backups or the desire to prevent stolen data from appearing on a public leak site. In the aftermath of a ransomware attack there is often intense pressure to get back up and running as soon as possible. Restoring encrypted data using backups can be a difficult and time-consuming process, so it can be tempting to think that paying a ransom for a decryption key is a faster option. It’s also an option fraught with risk. Organisations don’t know what the attackers might have done, such as adding backdoors, copying passwords and more. If organisations don’t thoroughly clean up the recovered data, they’ll end up with all that potentially toxic material in their network and potentially exposed to a repeat attack,” Wisniewski said.
According to the report, the impact of a ransomware attack could be immense. The average cost to recover from the most recent ransomware attack in 2021 was $3.43 million. It took on average one month to recover from the damage and disruption. 97 per cent of organisations said the attack had impacted their ability to operate, and 96 per cent of the victims said they had lost business and revenue because of the attack
The report further said many organisations relied on cyber insurance to help them recover from a ransomware attack and 81 per cent of mid-sized organisations had cyber insurance that covers them in the event of a ransomware attack. It said in 97 per cent of incidents, the insurer paid some or all the costs incurred
The report said 91 per cent of those with cyber insurance said their experience of getting it has changed over the last 12 months, with higher demands for cybersecurity measures, more complex or expensive policies and fewer organisations offering insurance protection
“The findings suggest we may have reached a peak in the evolutionary journey of ransomware, where attackers’ greed for ever higher ransom payments is colliding head on with a hardening of the cyber insurance market as insurers increasingly seek to reduce their ransomware risk and exposure,” Wisniewski said.
According to Wisniewski, “In recent years, it has become increasingly easy for cybercriminals to deploy ransomware, with almost everything available as-a-service. Again many cyber insurance providers have covered a wide range of ransomware recovery costs, including the ransom, likely contributing to ever higher ransom demands. However, the results indicate that cyber insurance is getting tougher and in the future ransomware victims may become less willing or less able to pay sky high ransoms. Sadly, this is unlikely to reduce the overall risk of a ransomware attack.”
