UK ransomware attacks double in past year
Ransomware attacks have more than doubled in the past year, driven by their increasing profitability for scammers.
New data from international law firm RPC revealed that the number attacks reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office has increased 100 per cent from 326 in 2020 to 654 in 2021.
Attacks often bring operations to a standstill, resulting in a number of corporates being forced to pay a ransom in order to have their data decrypted.
Finance, insurance and credit and Education and Childcare were the hardest hit sectors.
RPC said that sectors that are privy to sensitive financial data are often at the highest risk of being targeted by gangs.
Richard Breavington, Partner and Head of RPC’s Cyber and Tech Insurance team said: “Ransomware attacks have been on the rise and it’s a problem that isn’t going away any time soon.
“It is becoming increasingly rare for cyber to be covered by other types of insurance policies. As a result, businesses that are not taking dedicated cyber policies run the risk of becoming underinsured”.
He urged businesses to invest in IT security software to reduce chance of an attack and also to signal to insurers that it takes cyber security seriously.