A new report from Comparitech highlights how ransomware attacks are impacting the manufacturing industry. Since 2018, 478 companies in the industry have reported a ransomware attack, resulting in $46.2 billion in downtime. According to Comparitech, to determine the true cost of these attacks, they gathered data on the “amount of downtime caused, how much data was stolen, how much the ransom demands were, and whether or not these ransom demands were met.” Below are some key takeaways from their investigation:
- More attacks (167) were reported in 2020 than any other year
- The average demand from attackers was $11.2 million
- Downtime from these attacks lasted anywhere from a few hours to 76 days
- The transportation/automotive sector experienced the highest number of attacks (92)
In an except from the report, Rebecca Moody, Head of Data Research, wrote: “Downtime is one of the biggest costs companies face when hit with ransomware. If an organization isn’t able to get back up and running quickly, the knock-on effect can have widespread consequences for the company. Not only can it lead to huge costs but, in some cases, company closure. For example, when Clestra Hauserman (a French building material manufacturer) was attacked in April 2022, it affected the organization’s production for seven weeks and cost the company $2 to $3 million. This ultimately led to the company going into receivership. Using all of the available data, we have been able to estimate the true cost of downtime on the manufacturing sector. And according to a report in 2017, the average cost of downtime (across 20 different industries) is $8,662 per minute.”