Risk trends by industry: an empirical study in ransomware target trends

Abstract

Cybersecurity risk and the use of ransomware attacks have cost organizations millions of dollars globally over the last decade. These costs are rising as ransomware payment demands increase and malicious tooling becomes more sophisticated. The impact of these attacks is difficult to measure due in large part to fragmented data and no centralized oversight. Additional challenges stem from the technological evolution of ransomware attack variants along with ease of access to tooling provided by ransomware gangs. In this study, cybersecurity and ransomware risk are observed across industries to better understand the risk to industries targeted by ransomware operators. This study also explores several challenges related to risk mitigation for ransomware attacks. The global impact is significant, and ransomware continues to hit headlines as organizations impacted release information on security incidents.