Singapore Companies Struggle to Recover from Ransomware Despite Paying Hackers

Many businesses in Singapore continue to face prolonged and expensive recovery periods after ransomware attacks, even when they choose to pay the ransom. A new report from cybersecurity firm Sophos reveals that 50% of local organizations affected by ransomware opted to pay to regain access to their encrypted data. 

Despite this, more than half of these companies needed at least a week to resume operations, and nearly a quarter faced recovery times stretching up to six months.

While paying the ransom is often viewed as a quick fix, the real costs and complications extend far beyond the initial transaction. The average total expense incurred by Singaporean firms to fully recover from a ransomware incident this year has reached an estimated US$1.54 million. 

Although the median ransom payment has decreased to approximately US$365,565—down from US$760,000 last year—this reduction in ransom size hasn’t translated into faster recoveries. Interestingly, around 39% of companies were able to negotiate lower ransom amounts, often by working with external experts or negotiators.

According to Chester Wisniewski, Field CISO at Sophos, an increasing number of businesses are turning to incident response professionals to manage damage, contain threats, and potentially stop attacks mid-process. 

These experts not only help reduce the ransom amounts but also accelerate recovery timelines and fortify defences against future incidents.

The study also

[…]
Content was cut in order to protect the source.Please visit the source for the rest of the article.