Of the Organizations Surveyed That Paid the Ransom, the Average Cost Was $2,036,189—More Than Double the Cross-Sector Average of $812,360

OXFORD, U.K. — Oktober 26, 2022 —

Sophos, a global leader in innovating and delivering next-generation cybersecurity as a service, today published a new sectoral survey report, “The State of Ransomware in Manufacturing and Production,” which found that the sector had the highest average ransom payment across all sectors—$2,036,189 versus $812,360, respectively. In addition, 66% of manufacturing and production organizations surveyed reported an increase in the complexity of cyber attacks, and 61% reported an increase in the volume of cyber attacks when compared to the previous year’s survey. The increase in complexity and volume is also 7% and 4% higher than the cross-sector average, respectively.

“Manufacturing is an attractive sector to target for cybercriminals due to the privileged position it occupies in the supply chain. Outdated infrastructure and lack of visibility into the OT environment provides attackers with an easy way in and a launching pad for attacks inside a breached network. The convergence of IT and OT is increasing the attack surface and exacerbating an already complex threat environment,” said John Shier, senior security advisor, Sophos. “While having reliable backups is an important part of recovery, today's ransomware threat requires a detailed response plan that includes human-led threat hunting capabilities. Complex attacks require comprehensive protection, which, for many organizations, will include the addition of managed detection and response (MDR) teams who are trained to look for and neutralize active attackers.”

While manufacturing and production had the highest average ransom payment, the percentage of organizations that actually paid the ransom was among the lowest across sectors (33% versus 46% for the cross-sector average).

Additional findings include:

  • The manufacturing and production sector had the lowest attack rate, tied with financial services, with only 55% of organizations surveyed targeted by ransomware
  • However, the percentage of manufacturing and production organizations hit by ransomware increased by 52% over the previous year’s report (up from 36% in the 2021 survey report)
  • The sector also had the lowest encryption rate (57% versus 65% for the cross-sector average)
  • Only 75% of those surveyed reported having cyber insurance—the lowest percentage across all sectors

In light of the survey findings, Sophos experts recommend the following best practices for all organizations across all sectors:

  • Install and maintain high-quality defenses across all points in the environment. Review security controls regularly and make sure they continue to meet the organization’s needs
  • Proactively hunt for threats to identify and stop adversaries before they can execute attacks – if the team lacks the time or skills to do this in-house, outsource to a Managed Detection and Response (MDR) team
  • Harden the IT environment by searching for and closing key security gaps: unpatched devices, unprotected machines and open RDP ports, for example. Extended Detection and Response (XDR) solutions are ideal for this purpose
  • Prepare for the worst, and have an updated plan in place of a worst-case incident scenario
  • Make backups, and practice restoring them to ensure minimal disruption and recovery time

 

To learn more about the State of Ransomware in Manufacturing and Production, download the full report from Sophos.com.

The State of Ransomware 2022 survey polled 5,600 IT professionals in mid-sized organizations across 31 countries, including 419 respondents from the manufacturing and production sector.

Über Sophos

Sophos ist ein weltweit führender Anbieter von modernsten Sicherheitslösungen zur Abwehr von Cyberangriffen, einschließlich Managed Detection and Response (MDR) und Incident Response Services sowie einem breiten Portfolio an Endpoint-, Netzwerk-, E-Mail- und Cloud-Security-Technologien. Als einer der größten ausschließlich auf Cybersicherheit spezialisierten Anbieter schützt Sophos weltweit mehr als 600.000 Unternehmen und Organisationen und mehr als 100 Mio. Benutzer vor aktiven Angreifern, Ransomware, Phishing, Malware und mehr. Die Services und Produkte von Sophos sind über die Management-Konsole Sophos Central miteinander verbunden und werden vom bereichsübergreifenden Threat-Intelligence-Expertenteam Sophos X-Ops unterstützt. Die Sophos X-Ops Intelligence optimiert das gesamte Sophos Adaptive Cybersecurity Ecosystem. Dieses Ökosystem umfasst einen zentralen Data Lake, der eine Vielzahl offener APIs nutzt, die Kunden, Partnern, Entwicklern und anderen Cybersecurity- und Informationstechnologie-Anbietern zur Verfügung stehen. Sophos bietet Cybersecurity-as-a-Service für Unternehmen und Organisationen an, die vollständig verwaltete Sicherheitslösungen benötigen. Kunden können ihre Cybersicherheit auch direkt mit der Sophos Security-Operations-Plattform verwalten oder einen hybriden Ansatz nutzen, bei dem sie ihre internen Teams mit Sophos-Services ergänzen, einschließlich Threat Hunting und Maßnahmen zur Beseitigung von Bedrohungen. Sophos vertreibt seine Produkte und Services über ein weltweites Netzwerk von Vertriebspartnern und Managed Service Providern (MSPs). Sophos hat seinen Hauptsitz im britischen Oxford. Weitere Informationen finden Sie unter www.sophos.de.