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Ransomware incidents, costs on the rise, and no target is too small

Resource-stretched small businesses are ripe for exploitation, unfortunately.

By Danielle Andrus and C.J. Marwitz | May 05, 2021 at 10:57 AM

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Stylized representation of a ransomeware message that says files have been envrypted

Ransomware attacks have increased 350% since 2018, and the global cost of these attacks grew from $8 billion in 2018 to $20 billion in 2020, according to Cybersecurity Ventures. The average ransom has increased as well, according to a report from Datto, with Managed Service Providers reporting that the amount demanded from SMBs alone averaged $5,900, a figure it says has increased 37% YOY.

According to Coveware, downtime has been increasing due to ransomware attacks; for example, from Q3 2019 to Q4 2019, the company says, “average downtime increased to 16.2 days, from 12.1 days.”

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