Datto, a leading global provider of IT solutions delivered through managed service providers (MSPs), announced its fourth annual Global State of the Channel Ransomware Report. The survey of more than 1,400 MSP decision makers that manage the IT systems for small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) found that despite 2FA, ransomware remains the most common cyber threat to SMBs.
Here are the highlights:
- Ransomware attacks are pervasive. The number of ransomware attacks against SMBs is on the rise. Eighty-five percent of MSPs reported attacks against SMBs over the last two years, compared to 79 percent of MSPs who reported the same in 2018. In the first half of 2019 alone, 56 percent of MSPs reported attacks against SMB clients.
- A disconnect exists on the significance of ransomware as a threat. Eighty-nine percent of MSPs report that SMBs should be very concerned about the threat of ransomware. However, only 28% of MSPs report SMBs are very concerned about the threat.
- The cost of ransomware is significant. Sixty-four percent of MSPs report experiencing a loss of business productivity for their SMB clients while 45 percent report business-threatening downtime. The average cost of that downtime is $141,000, a more than 200 percent increase over last year’s average downtime cost of $46,800. The report also uncovered that the cost of downtime is now 23 times greater than the average ransom request of $5,900.
- MSPs are in a unique position today to educate SMBs on how to protect against a ransomware attack, including employee training and the tools to implement.
One of the most basic and effective controls when it comes to ransomware preparation is being underutilized. MSPs report enabling 2-Factor Authentication on only 60 percent of email clients and 61 percent of password managers, despite the fact that the majority of MSPs (67 percent) claim phishing emails are the leading cause of ransomware breaches at SMBs.