The manufacturing sector has the highest ransomware payouts. | So Good News

New research from Sophos shows the manufacturing sector is being extorted for the highest ransomware payouts on average across all industries.

A survey report by the company found that the average manufacturing and manufacturing company’s ransom payment was more than $2 million, compared to $812,360 across all sectors.

But conversely, The sector is 33 percent above the cross-sector average to actually pay the requested ransom; Compared to 46 percent, it is significantly lower. It produces one of the lowest rates of ransomware payouts in the industry.

Meanwhile, two-thirds of companies in the sector report that they are aware of the complexity of cyber-attacks, with nearly 61% reporting an increase in the volume of attacks compared to last year. This compares with a cross-sector average of 59% and 57%.

Despite growing threats, The sector has the lowest encryption usage at 57% compared to the cross-sector average of 65%. The sector also has at least 75 percent adoption of cyber insurance.

Sophos senior security advisor John Shier said manufacturing is an attractive target for cybercriminals because of the sector’s position in the supply chain.

“Obsolete infrastructure and lack of visibility into the OT environment gives attackers an easy way out and a launching pad for attacks within a compromised network. The integration of IT and OT increases the attack surface and worsens the already complex threat environment,” he said.

“Having reliable backups is an important part of recovery, but today’s ransomware threat requires a detailed response plan that includes human-led threat detection capabilities.”

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