Utilities with lower gross revenue face the largest financial risks from hackers, with median losses associated with a ransomware attack potentially threatening 30% of a small company’s operating income, according to new research from cybersecurity firm ThreatConnect.
“Organizations are finally waking up to the fact that the impact of ransomware and other cyber attacks is more than just a moment in time,” Jerry Caponera, ThreatConnect’s general manager of cyber risk quantification, said in a statement. “The financial implications are far-reaching and create barriers for companies to continue operations after these attacks.”
ThreatConnect on Tuesday published its first risk quantification report, assessing the potential financial impact of a ransomware attack on an enterprises with revenue of $500 million, $1.5 billion, and $15 billion. The analysis focused on the healthcare, manufacturing, and utility sectors.
The median ransomware loss for a utility with $500 million in revenue is around $17.8 million, according to ThreatConnect’s data. The loss figures include revenue impacts, operational disruptions and remediation costs.
“The small utilities, they just have less bandwidth” to absorb an attack, Caponera said in an interview. An average ransomware loss at a small power provider could amount to a 31% hit to operating income, he said. For a medium or large entity the impact would be more modest, about 13% and 2%, respectively.
In the health care and manufacturing sectors, the potential losses are even higher.
A health care company with $15 billion in revenues faces median ransomware attack costs in excess of $100 million, according to ThreatConnect. For a manufacturing company that size, median attack costs are almost $187 million.
“We’re starting to see more threats to the small and medium companies in sectors like manufacturing and health care because they’re not as equipped to deal with them as the larger companies that invest more,” Caponera said.
Continue reading this article here: Utility Dive – Ransomware Report