A Third of UK-based Companies Have Been Hoarding Bitcoin, Study Finds
One in every three businesses in the United Kingdom is hoarding Bitcoin and similar currencies out of fear of being held by ransomware; based on a recent study done by Citrix and Censuswide, where 250 IT and computer security officials were surveyed.
According to reports, companies have been willing to shell out as much as US $72,000 to regain access to their computers, data, and intellectual property in the event ransomware took over their systems.
The study done by Citrix and Censuswide resulted in the following numbers in terms of companies stocking up on Bitcoin: 36% of companies with 250-500 employees; 57% of companies with 501-1,000; and 18% of companies with more than 2,000.
Since ransomware has been rampant all over the world and in different capacities, companies are becoming more cautious. A number of hospitals, schools, police departments, government institutions, and the like have been victimised by ransomware in the past year alone.
There have been some known instances wherein a number of companies were able to get rid of the ransomware that held their systems up, but based on this sample size, it seems a lot of establishments are leaning more on the cautious side.
Reports say companies have been willing to pay up to US$72,000 to get their data or devices back.
Other reports and studies have informed the public that ransomware numbers are on the upswing since last year. This has resulted in more informed and more protective corporate and consumer entities.
Citrix and Censuswide’s research, however, also showed that the rates of which companies are gearing up for ransomware have not been fast enough.
Almost half, 48% to be exact, of those involved with the study admitted to not backing up their systems daily – putting them at risk of losing critical company information to ransomware or other malware attacks.
Bitcoin has also been the go-to currency of other cybercriminal undertakings aside from ransomware attacks; these include DDoS for Bitcoin extortions, ransoming of database breaches, among others.
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