Seventy percent of office workers said their employer regularly communicates about cyberthreats, according to an Intermedia survey. However, many employees don't know how to appropriately respond to a malware infection.
For the survey, the Mountain View, Calif.-based cloud business applications provider asked 1,000 U.S. office workers about their cybersecurity habits. Twenty-nine percent of respondents named cyberattacks the biggest threat to data loss, second only to the 30 percent of respondents who cited hardware failure.
The majority of the office workers who had fallen victim to a ransomware attack at work — 59 percent — said they personally paid to decrypt their files. Thirty-seven percent said their employer paid the ransom demand. A minority of respondents indicated no ransom was paid.
"Even in the face of increasing attacks, there are large gaps in overall awareness of how to handle a ransomware strike," said Jonathan Levine, chief technology officer of Intermedia. "Organizations need to focus education efforts not just on what ransomware is, but what steps employees should take if they are impacted."
To access the full survey, click here.