9 in 10 Organizations Paid At least One Ransom Last Year

New analysis of cyberattacks shows ransomware attacks are running far more rampant than previously thought, with half of organizations blaming poor cyber hygiene.

After last year’s shocking statistic that 70% of organizations pay the ransom, it’s surprising to see that an even more significant percentage (91%) have paid a ransom at least once in the last 12 months, according to Extrahop’s 2024 Global Cyber Confidence Index.

Only 5% of organizations did not experience a ransomware attack, while one-third of organizations experienced eleven or more in a 12-month period! And when it did happen, a surprising 75% of organizations paid the ransom half of the time!

Observing the prevalence of ransomware attacks across various organizations is concerning, especially considering that inadequate cyber hygiene practices contribute significantly to these security risks.

For roughly 50% of organizations, weak cyber hygiene is responsible for half of all cybersecurity incidents. These findings highlight that regardless of an organization’s size, there is a substantial connection between cyber incidents and the need for improved cyber hygiene practices, as illustrated below:

Resource: Extrahop

What’s surprising is that this is relatively easy to address. Continual new-school security awareness training will help significantly reduce the risk users introduce to the organization through poor cyber habits and their interaction with malicious content in email and on the web.

With so many organizations paying ransoms, it’s time to look at the cost of stopping a ransomware attack in the first place versus paying one – if not half – of all the ransoms demanded of your organization. Solutions like security awareness training will reduce the risk – and the cost – of ransomware attacks.

Security awareness training empowers your workforce to make smarter security decisions every day. Over 65,000 organizations worldwide trust the KnowBe4 platform to strengthen their security culture and reduce human risk.

Information used in this article was provided by our partners at KnowBe4.