New research from security firm Citrix has revealed that one in five (20%) medium to large UK businesses do not have any contingency measures in place in case of a ransomware attack, with almost half of British businesses (48%) not backing up their company data at least once per day.
The poll of 250 IT and security specialists across the UK also found that a third of organizations are currently building a ready stockpile of digital currency such as Bitcoin in preparation for a ransomware attack, with more than 35% of large firms willing to shell out over £50,000 to regain access to important intellectual property or business critical data in the event of a breach.
“Today’s threat landscape is more advanced, more determined and better equipped than ever before to exploit the weaknesses of organizations – many of which house a potential data goldmine,” said Chris Mayers, chief security architect at Citrix.
“This research has further highlighted the sheer volume of questions to be answered by companies across the UK, with many simply not prepared for a cyber-attack that could result in the loss of mission critical data, reduced revenues and a decline in public trust.”
One of the key factors in protecting yourself against the loss of vital data in a ransomware attack is a solid backup procedure. However, while these findings suggest smaller firms are perhaps placing a greater emphasis on cybersecurity, over one in ten (13%) have admitted to never serializing their backup data files, leaving them more vulnerable to a ransomware attack.
“These findings emphasize the importance of building a robust IT network that safeguards users from cyber-attacks. Using dedicated techniques, such as encryption and virtualization, companies keep data safely locked away and inaccessible to hackers – protecting them from costly breaches and significant reputational damage,” Mayers added.