Weekend ransomware attacks might end up being more expensive
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Ransomware attacks that occur on weekends or during holidays tend to be more damaging to businesses than weekday attacks, according to cybersecurity researchers Cybereason.
When surveying more than 1,200 cybersecurity professionals for its “Organizations At Risk 2022: Ransomware Attackers Don’t Take Vacation” report, the company found that most respondents claimed weekend ransomware (opens in new tab) attacks result in higher costs and greater revenue losses.
In fact, more than a third of respondents who experienced such an incident over a weekend or holiday period said they lost more money, up nearly a fifth (19%) from last year. The travel and transportation sector, as well as the education sector, seemed to be most affected.
Personnel problems
The reason is obvious: less staff means slower response time, and slower response time means threat actors have more time to wreak havoc.
Nearly half (44%) of respondents said their workforce decreases by as much as 70% on weekends and holidays. One-fifth (21%) work with a skeleton crew, as about one-tenth of their entire team signs up for work. In addition, only 7% of respondents said that between 80 and 100% of their cybersecurity team is working during these times.
The biggest challenge for companies – even large companies with more than 2,000 employees – is to build their incident response team. Of course, compared to weekday attacks, a third (34%) said it took longer than usual, while 36% said it took them longer to stop and eventually recover. 37% claimed that assessing the size of the attack also took too long.
Cybereason concludes that ransomware continues to be a major threat to business, accounting for nearly half (49%) of all incidents faced by SOC teams.