Indian cos top an unwanted global list - Most vulnerable to ransomware attacks

Indian companies have made it to the top of a global list. But one that none of them would be proud of. India tops the list of top 30 countries for ransomware attacks with 68% of Indian organisations surveyed being hit by ransomware in the last 12 months.

What more, around 67% of Indian firms whose data was encrypted paid a ransom to get back their data.

Indian companies were the most likely to pay a ransom of all countries surveyed --- the global average was just around 32%.

These were all part of the findings of ‘The State of Ransomware 2021’ survey carried out by the cybersecurity firm Sophos.

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Average ransom payment in India was $76,619

However, the number of organisations hit by ransomware attacks has come down from 82% in the previous year. And 72% of Indian organisations hit by ransomware admitted that data had been encrypted in the most significant ransomware attack, down from 91% in the previous year.

Ransomware attacks have had significant financial repercussions. As per the survey, the average total cost of recovery from a ransomware attack has more than doubled in a year, increasing from $7,61,106 in 2020 to $1.85 million in 2021 globally. In India, the approximate recovery cost from the impact of a ransomware attack tripled in the last year, up from $1.1 million in 2020, to $3.38 in 2021. The average ransom payment in India was $76,619.

The survey also said that 86% of Indian companies believe cyberattacks are now too complex for their IT teams to handle on their own, compared to a global average of 54%.

Sunil Sharma, managing director–sales, Sophos India and SAARC, said, “While the proportion of organisations hit by ransomware has declined compared to the previous year, Indian organizations are still far more likely to be hit than those in any other country surveyed. This could be due to the high level of domestic ransomware in India, as seen by SophosLabs, leading to a situation where Indian adversaries are targeting Indian organisations.”

Around 5,400 IT decision makers in mid-sized organisations in 30 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, including 300 respondents in India, were interviewed for the survey.