Ransomware Recovery Costs Have Doubled for State and Local Governments

Thirty-four percent of state and local government entities were hit by ransomware in 2024, a new report from Sophos has found.

While this is a decrease compared to the attack rate in 2023, the mean cost of recovery for these entities has more than doubled to $2.83 million.

Seventy-two percent of ransom demands made to state and local government organizations in 2024 were for $1 million or more, with 37% of demands for $5 million or more.

The report found that most ransomware attacks against government entities in 2024 began with compromised credentials, which are usually obtained through phishing, credential stuffing, or data breaches.

“Compromised credentials were the most common method of entry (49%), followed by exploited vulnerabilities (24%),” the researchers write. “For comparison, exploited vulnerabilities were the most common method of compromise in 2023. The study reveals that the whole government sector is particularly susceptible to attacks that start with abuse of compromised credentials, with 47% of affected central/federal government organizations having experienced attacks starting in this way.”

Employee awareness training provides an essential layer of defense against ransomware attacks. Sophos concludes, “The best ransomware attack is the one that didn’t happen because the adversaries couldn’t get into your organization. Almost a quarter (24%) of respondents say that attacks start with the exploitation of unpatched vulnerabilities in state and local government, so it’s important to take control of your attack surface and deploy risk-based prioritization of patching.

The use of MFA to limit credential abuse should also be a priority for every organization. Ongoing user training on how to detect phishing and malicious emails remains essential.”

KnowBe4 empowers your workforce to make smarter security decisions every day. Over 65,000 organizations worldwide trust the KnowBe4 platform to strengthen their security culture and reduce human risk.

Sophos has the story.