Nearly two-thirds of information security professionals are worried they wouldn't be able to recover from a ransomware attack without losing critical data, according to a Tripwire survey from attendees of a recent RSA Conference on cybersecurity in San Francisco.
"The decision to pay a ransom comes down to the confidence and financial cost of recreating or restoring data from a previous backup," Travis Smith, senior security researcher for Tripwire, said in a statement. "Since most ransomware samples we have seen have a time limit to pay, it's important to have confidence that you can restore the majority of data on short notice. Organizations should focus on improving backup and restoration procedures to reduce the cost of restoring data and services after a potential breach."
Additional survey findings include that 52 percent of security professionals aren't confident about their executives being able to avoid phishing scams, 58 percent have seen increases in spear phishing attempts in the last year and 73 percent said critical infrastructure providers are especially vulnerable to ransomware.