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When hit with ransomware, most businesses pay up

posted onDecember 14, 2016
by l33tdawg

Since 2013, the use of ransomware -- malware that encrypts and scrambles data, allowing hackers to demand payment for the key -- has been steadily on the rise. In fact, a new study from IBM Security suggests the tactic increased 6,000 percent this year compared with 2015, with roughly 40 percent of all spam emails containing ransomware.

For businesses, ransomware extortion has skyrocketed as cyberattackers grow less selective with their targets and more opportunistic. While the FBI urges victims to not pay ransoms and instead contact law enforcement, IBM found that nearly 70 percent of business victims paid hackers to recover data. Out of those businesses, 50 percent paid more than $10,000 and 20 percent paid more than $40,000.

The result is nearly $1 billion in extorted income for cybercriminals, according to IBM.

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