A new study has revealed that ransomware attacks targeting organizations continue to be one the rise, with 47% of organizations revealing that they have been victims of a ransomware attack over the past 12 months.

The study, by Barracuda Networks, also reveals that 92% of people surveyed are concerned about the threat of ransomware striking their organization.

“Ransomware is undeniably the most successful and profitable style of attack for cybercriminals,” the study stated. “It is estimated that last year alone, ransomware scams cost victims nearly $1 billion worldwide.”

Other interesting takeaways from the study reveal that 59% of those attacked were able to identify the source of the attacks. 76% of those who were able to do so, discovered that the ransomware struck through email.

“The impact of these attacks is far reaching. It’s not just your hard-earned money that is at risk, it’s also your reputation, viability, and jobs,” says Hatem Naguib, SVP and general manager security at Barracuda. “These impacts can be devastating, especially for a smaller business that may not have resources in place to quickly recover. On top of losing a company’s hard earned money, the downstream effects also impact the business.”

Intriguingly, 70% of respondents revealed that they felt popular software like Office 365 did not provide adequate protection against ransomware. Instead, companies are increasingly turning to third-party security solutions, with 60% of those surveyed admitting to using third party security software.

No organization is too small to be targeted and attacked, Naguib added. Smaller businesses are more susceptible to being targeted since they typically have fewer security resources to combat threats.

Educating employees to be wary of phishing and spear phishing campaigns is recommended, as is the practice of comprehensive data backups to recover files in the event of a ransomware attack.

Details of the survey can be found here.

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