The newest annual Sophos examine of the real-world ransomware experiences of state and native authorities organizations explores the total sufferer journey, from assault price and root trigger to operational affect and enterprise outcomes.
This 12 months’s report sheds gentle on new areas of examine for the sector, together with an exploration of ransom calls for vs. ransom funds and the way typically state and native authorities organizations obtain help from regulation enforcement our bodies to remediate the assault.
Download the report to get the total findings.
Assault charges have gone down, however restoration is costlier
State and native authorities organizations reported the bottom price of assaults of all sectors surveyed in 2024. 34% of state and native authorities organizations have been hit by ransomware in 2024, a 51% discount within the assault price reported in 2023 (69%).
Virtually all (99%) state and native authorities organizations hit by ransomware previously 12 months stated that cybercriminals tried to compromise their backups throughout the assault. Of the makes an attempt, simply over half (51%) have been profitable – one of many lowest charges of backup compromise throughout sectors.
98% of ransomware assaults on state and native authorities organizations resulted in information encryption, a substantial enhance from the 76% encryption price reported in 2023. That is the very best price of knowledge encryption of all sectors studied in 2024.
The imply price in state and native authorities organizations to recuperate from a ransomware assault was $2.83M in 2024, greater than double the $1.21M reported in 2023.
Gadgets impacted in a ransomware assault
On common, 56% of computer systems in state and native authorities organizations have been impacted by a ransomware assault, above the cross-sector common of 49%. Having the total surroundings encrypted is extraordinarily uncommon, with solely 8% of organizations reporting that 81% or extra of their units have been impacted.
The propensity to pay the ransom has elevated
78% of state and native authorities organizations restored encrypted information utilizing backups, the second highest price of backup use reported (tied with greater training). 54% paid the ransom to get information again. As compared, globally, 68% used backups and 56% paid the ransom.
The three-year view of state and native authorities organizations reveals a gentle rise in each using backups and the sector’s propensity to pay the ransom.
A notable change during the last 12 months is the rise within the propensity for victims to make use of a number of approaches to recuperate encrypted information (e.g., paying the ransom and utilizing backups). On this 12 months’s examine, 44% of state and native authorities organizations that had information encrypted reported utilizing a couple of technique, 4 instances the speed reported in 2023 (11%).
Victims not often pay the preliminary ransom sum demanded
49 state and native authorities respondents whose organizations paid the ransom shared the precise sum paid, revealing that the typical (median) cost was $2.2M in 2024.
Solely 20% paid the preliminary ransom demand. 35% paid lower than the unique demand, whereas 45% paid extra. On common, throughout all state and native authorities respondents, organizations paid 104% of the preliminary ransom demanded by adversaries.
Download the full report for extra insights into ransom funds and lots of different areas.
Concerning the survey
The report is predicated on the findings of an unbiased, vendor-agnostic survey commissioned by Sophos of 5,000 IT/cybersecurity leaders throughout 14 international locations within the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific, together with 270 from the state and native authorities sector. All respondents signify organizations with between 100 and 5,000 workers. The survey was performed by analysis specialist Vanson Bourne between January and February 2024, and members have been requested to reply based mostly on their experiences over the earlier 12 months.
