Indian companies paid Rs 8 crore on average to fix ransomware, says report

Indian companies paid more than Rs 8 crore ransom on average to fix ransomware attacks on their operations, a new report said on Tuesday.

As many as 82 per cent Indian companies were attacked in the past 12 months–a 15 per cent increase from 2017, said the report called ‘The State of Ransomware 2020’ conducted by Sophos, a global cybersecurity company. Ransomware is a form of malicious software that locks and encrypts a victim’s computer or device data and then demands a ransom to restore access, according to Norton.com.

Two out of three organisations hit by ransomware in India admitted paying the ransom. Data was encrypted in 91 per cent of attacks that successfully breached an organisation in India.