Sophos, recently shared insights from its “State of Ransomware 2024” report. The survey reveals that nearly all organizations [97%] affected by ransomware in the last year sought assistance from law enforcement or government bodies. Interestingly, a majority of these organizations [59%] found it relatively straightforward to work with these authorities, though a small fraction [10%] reported significant difficulties.
The report indicates that affected organizations primarily sought advice on managing ransomware, investigative support, and assistance in data recovery. Chester Wisniewski, Sophos’ Field CTO, emphasized the increasing acceptance of cooperating with law enforcement, attributing this change to new cyber incident reporting regulations and a reduction in victim shaming within the security community.
Sophos’ latest findings from its Active Adversary report also highlighted the ongoing threat of ransomware, especially to small and medium-sized businesses. Despite some successes in disrupting cybercrime networks, Wisniewski advocates for a shift from merely responding to attacks to preventing them through better security practices and global collaboration.
FBI Director Christopher Wray reinforced the importance of cooperation between the private sector and law enforcement, highlighting efforts to integrate private sector insights into operations to combat the evolving and severe threat landscape.
The data for the report was gathered from a survey of 5,000 IT and cybersecurity leaders across 14 countries, conducted early in 2024. More detailed findings and sector-specific data can be found in the full report available on Sophos’ website.
