Ransomware attacks are a key cyber security threat for global organisations, according to Verizon’s 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report.

It is the most common type of malware, found in 39 per cent of malware-related data breaches - double that of last year’s report - accounting for over 700 incidents. Verizon’s analysis also showed that attacks are now moving into business critical systems, which encrypt file servers or databases, inflicting more damage and commanding bigger ransom requests.

The report found a shift in how social attacks, such as financial pretexting and phishing, are used, with human resource departments now being targeted in a bid to extract employee wage and tax data. While on average 78 per cent of people did not fail a phishing test last year, 4 per cent of people do for any given phishing campaign, and a cybercriminal only needs one victim to get access into an organisation.

“Ransomware remains a significant threat for companies of all sizes,” said Bryan Sartin, executive director security professional services at Verizon. “It is now the most prevalent form of malware, and its use has increased significantly over recent years. What is interesting to us is that businesses are still not investing in appropriate security strategies to combat ransomware, meaning they end up with no option but to pay the ransom.”

The report leverages collective data from 67 organisations across the world, including analysis on 53,000 incidents and 2,216 breaches from 65 countries.

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