Sophos, a leading cybersecurity solutions provider, has unveiled its annual ‘State of Ransomware 2024’ survey report, revealing a staggering 500% increase in the average ransom payment compared to the previous year. 

According to the company’s press release, organizations that succumbed to ransom demands reported an average payment of $2.0 million, a significant jump from $400,000 in 2023.

However, ransom payments represent just a fraction of the overall cost incurred by victims. Excluding ransoms, the survey found that the average recovery cost skyrocketed to $2.73 million, marking an alarming increase of nearly $1.0 million since 2023 when Sophos reported the average cost at $1.82 million.

Despite the exorbitant ransom amounts, there appears to be a slight reduction in the rate of ransomware attacks. The survey indicates that 59% of organizations fell victim to ransomware in the past year, down from 66% in 2023. 

However, even smaller organizations with revenue less than $10 million are not immune, with nearly half (47%) reporting ransomware incidents.

A concerning trend highlighted in the 2024 report is the sizeable ransom demands, with 63% of demands exceeding $1.0 million and 30% surpassing $5.0 million. 

Alarmingly, nearly half (46%) of organizations with revenue under $50 million faced seven-figure ransom demands.

Exploited vulnerabilities emerged as the primary root cause of ransomware attacks for the second consecutive year, affecting 32% of organizations surveyed. This was followed closely by compromised credentials (29%) and malicious email (23%). 

Attacks originating from exploited vulnerabilities resulted in more severe impacts, including higher rates of backup compromise, data encryption, and propensity to pay the ransom.

The financial and operational impact of attacks varied depending on the attack vector. Organizations targeted through exploited vulnerabilities faced an average recovery cost of $3.58 million, compared to $2.58 million for attacks initiated through compromised credentials. 

Additionally, a greater proportion of organizations attacked via exploited vulnerabilities took more than a month to recover.

The insights presented in the ‘State of Ransomware 2024’ report are based on a vendor-agnostic survey of 5,000 cybersecurity/IT leaders conducted between January and February 2024. Respondents hailed from 14 countries across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific, representing organizations with 100 to 5,000 employees and revenue ranging from less than $10 million to over $5.0 billion.