The 2023 Global Ransomware Report

Fortinet recently surveyed 569 cybersecurity leaders and decision-makers from organizations of all sizes and industries around the globe to understand their perspectives on ransomware, how it has impacted their organizations, and what strategies they have in place to mitigate a potential attack. In this year’s survey, more than 80% of respondents say they are “very” or “extremely” concerned about the threat of ransomware, yet a similar number (78%) of organizations surveyed also believe they are “very” or “extremely” prepared to thwart a breach. Despite those concerns and feelings of preparedness, half of the organizations surveyed still fell victim to ransomware last year.

Of the organizations that experienced a ransomware incident, 71% said they paid at least a portion of the demanded ransom, even though 72% indicated they detected the incident within hours (often within minutes). And while nearly all respondents had cyber insurance, this didn’t guarantee that all costs would be covered, or data restored. In fact, only 35% of those affected by ransomware recovered all their data after the incident.

It’s not all bad news, though. In fact, despite economic uncertainty, nearly all leaders surveyed (91%) expect increased security budgets in the coming year to invest in technologies and services that further safeguard their networks from a potential ransomware attack. In general, security leaders’ top priority is to implement advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) that enable faster threat detection, followed by central monitoring to speed response. And specifically, Internet-of-Things (IoT) security and next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) topped the list of areas and products that leaders planned to invest in, with the greatest increase in plans to implement endpoint detection and response (EDR) and secure email gateway (SEG) solutions. This is a promising plan, as phishing emails were the number one method respondents reported ransomware actors used to gain entry. And of course, the endpoint is the ultimate destination of ransomware.

Interestingly, while many security leaders have traditionally believed that buying the best individual product for a project will yield the strongest cybersecurity posture, this year’s survey data indicates that those organizations that reported taking a point product approach were the most likely to become a victim of ransomware. However, technology is only part of the solution. The survey found that four out of the top five challenges in preventing ransomware were related to people and processes.

As ransomware proliferates and attacker methods grow in sophistication, organizations of all shapes and sizes are a target, making it crucial that security leaders invest in the right technologies, people, and processes now to prevent a ransomware incident in the future.

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