English Section

One in five Polish firms hit by cyberattacks: report

02.10.2024 12:00
One in five Polish companies has fallen victim to cyberattacks over the past year, with many businesses paying ransoms but failing to recover all of their data, according to a report on Wednesday by Polish daily Puls Biznesu.
Pixabay License
Pixabay LicenseImage by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

The report, based on findings from cybersecurity firm Sophos, reveals that 20 percent of Polish enterprises experienced ransomware attacks in the past year, with cybercriminals using remote encryption to lock companies out of their data.

The leading cause of these attacks was phishing, a method where attackers trick individuals into revealing their login credentials, Puls Biznesu said.

Sophos’ Chief Technology Officer Chester Wisniewski told Puls Biznesu that in half of the ransomware incidents in Poland, attackers managed to encrypt the companies’ data, compared to 70 percent globally.

He suggested that the lower encryption rate in Poland might reflect stronger defenses or more effective threat detection and response systems in Polish companies.

According to Wisniewski, most Polish businesses are able to recover their data within a week, while it can take up to four weeks for companies globally to do the same.

He said that the faster recovery time might be because many Polish businesses, especially those small and medium-sized, tend to store less data than larger firms, making the recovery process quicker.

Wisniewski also told the Polish paper that many business owners give in to cybercriminals’ demands and pay ransoms to regain access to their data.

However, paying the ransom doesn’t always guarantee full data recovery and can even encourage further attacks, he cautioned.

(jh/gs)

Source: PAP, Puls Biznesu