Sophos has announced findings from its survey report, The State of Ransomware in Financial Services 2021. It reveals how mid-sized financial services organisations in Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) spent more US$2.62 million on average recovering from a ransomware attack. This figure exceeds the The global cross-sector average of US$1.85 million even though the results also show the financial sector is among the most resilient against ransomware. The survey studied the extent and impact of ransomware attacks during 2020.
Other findings include:
- 35% of the financial services organisations surveyed in APJ were hit by ransomware in 2020
- 69% of the organisations impacted said the attackers succeeded in encrypting their data
Financial services are among the most highly regulated industries in the world. Organisations must adhere to myriad regulations, including SOX, GDPR, and PCI DSS, that include pricey penalties for non-compliance and data breaches. Many of these organisations are also required to prepare business continuity and disaster recovery plans to minimise any potential damage from data breaches or operational disruptions stemming from a cyberattack.
“Strict guidelines in the financial services sector encourage strong defences,” said John Shier, senior security advisor, Sophos. “Unfortunately, they also mean that a direct hit with ransomware is likely to be very costly for targeted organisations. If you add up the price of regulatory fines, rebuilding IT systems and stabilizing brand reputation, especially if customer data is lost, you can see why the survey found that recovery costs for mid-sized financial services organisations in APJ hit by ransomware in 2020 were in excess of $2.62 million.
“Two other slightly worrying data points are the fact that a small, but significant, 8% of financial services organisations globally experienced what are known as ‘extortion’ attacks, where data is not encrypted, but stolen and victims are threatened with the online publication of their data unless they pay the ransom. Backups cannot protect against this risk, so financial services organisations should not rely on them as an anti-extortion defence. Further, 11% of the financial organisations surveyed globally believe they won’t get hit because they are ‘not a target.’ This is a dangerous perception because anyone can be a target. The best approach is to assume you will be a target and to build your defences accordingly.”
Of the APJ financial services organisations that believe they’ll be hit by ransomware in the future, 54% said this is because attacks are now so sophisticated, they have become harder to stop. Thirty-five percent feel they’ll become a target because other organisations in their industry have already been targeted with ransomware. Fifty-one percent believe that since ransomware is so prevalent, it is inevitable they’ll get hit by the cybercrime.
“The financial sector has too much at stake to not set up an indepth defensive plan to protect, dectect and block cyberattackers,” said Shier. “While they should continue to invest in backups and their disaster recovery efforts to minimise the impact of an attack, they should also look to extend their anti-ransomware defences by combining technology with human-led threat hunting to neutralise today’s advanced human-led cyberattacks.”
The “State of Ransomware in Financial Services 2021” report is available on Sophos.com.
The State of Ransomware in Financial Services 2021 survey polled 5,400 IT decision makers, including 550 in financial services organisations, in 30 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
You can read the full report here.
