A new report published by Coveware concludes that companies hit with ransomware attacks spend an average of 16 days recovering from the attack. Think about being offline and unable to do business for 16 business days. It is extremely disruptive and costly. It takes larger organizations longer to recover than smaller ones, and larger organizations are getting hit more frequently with ransomware attacks in 2020 than 2019. That means that companies must expect them, prepare for them and be ready to respond to them.

We are finding that companies are not ready when they are hit with ransomware, even when they know the risk of a ransomware attack is real and now more likely than ever. We see that normal business operations overshadow preparedness for cyber-attacks. With this mindset, failing to prepare for a ransomware attack takes companies by surprise and hits them harder than if they were prepared.

Preparing for cyber-attacks, including ransomware attacks, should be a normal business process and part of a risk management strategy. Too many companies are ignoring this risk and attacks are blindsiding them.

Take heed from reports from security experts that ransomware attacks are on the rise, assume you will be hit, and prepare a response strategy.