Ransomware Consequences
High Costs
According to Forbes, In 2019, average remediation costs for a company that had incurred a ransomware attack were over $761,000. In 2020, the figure had more than doubled to $1.85 million. In just the United States, ransomware victims spent an average of $2.09 million on remediation costs.
Low Chances of Data Recovery
Paying a ransom does not guarantee that all data will be recovered. Forbes reported that n average, only 65% of data is restored.
Brand Reputation Damage
Ransomware attacks can be costly not only financially but also in corporate productivity and data breaches to customers. Releasing sensitive and personal data can be devastating to a company’s reputation.
Examples of Ransomware Attacks Using Phishing
Phishing emails have been among the top entry points for attackers to attract victims. Phishing was the dominant attack vector for Ransomware in Q4 2020, overtaking remote desktop protocol (RDP) compromises. Here are examples of successful Ransomware attacks that started as phishing emails campaigns:
- Osiris - a variant of Locky, distributed Ransomware by luring recipients to download a malicious invoice in an Excel spreadsheet format.
- Avaddon - a type of Ransomware typically delivered through phishing emails that contain malicious attachments in the form of a zip archive infected with malicious JavaScript.
- Trickbot - a Ransomware variant that was recently sent out as a spear-phishing campaign with link that sends users to a malicious website. When victims click on the bait, an infected JavaScript file is downloaded.