London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Oct 01, 2025

Ransomware shame: More than half of business owners conceal cyber-breach

Ransomware shame: More than half of business owners conceal cyber-breach

The ransomware scourge may be even worse than widely believed as most business executives hide cyberattacks, a new survey says.

One-third (32%) of enterprises experienced a six-figure breach last year and well over half (61%) of business owners admitted to concealing a breach, according to the findings from a global survey of over 1,400 IT decision-makers at large organizations by cybersecurity firm Arctic Wolf.

"Most incidents do not get made public. After all, not every ransomware incident spreads to, nor takes down, an entire system or company infrastructure," Ian McShane, field chief technology officer at Arctic Wolf, told FOX Business.

"Unsurprising when you think of the negative press and brand damage, let alone potential for fines or other penalties depending on the industry," McShane said.

Other results of the survey include:

--78% of C-suite executives claim that they would be willing to pay a ransom.

--56% would be willing to pay over $100,000 to resume operations.

--74% of executives with hybrid work environments believe their in-house IT and security teams lack the capability to defend against ransomware.

--60% of executives believe their employees could not identify a cyberattack.

Those results reflect the constant drumbeat of reports of successful ransomware attacks that leave executives feeling vulnerable, according to McShane.

Hacker attacking internet


The survey comes in the wake of an announcement from the Department of the Treasury that sets out a series of actions to disrupt criminal networks and virtual currency exchanges that facilitate criminal transactions.

"Ransomware and cyber-attacks are victimizing businesses large and small across America and are a direct threat to our economy. We will continue to crack down on malicious actors," said Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen in a statement.

But executives have little faith in government efforts to disrupt ransomware, the survey shows.

"Despite recent interventions into cybersecurity issues, executives lack faith in the government's ability to protect them from cyber threats," Artic Wolf said, adding that the majority of organizations (60%) believe that spending on new security tools and services is the most effective way of stopping attacks.

And executives have no faith in diplomacy either, with only 15% of U.S. executives believing that diplomacy effectively stops future cyberattacks from foreign countries, though a larger number (31%) believe retaliatory cyberattacks against foreign nations would be effective.

China (41%) and Russia (41%) are seen equally as the source of the most dangerous threats targeting their businesses.

And in separate research from cybersecurity firm Veritas Technologies, which surveyed more than 2,000 global IT leaders, respondents stated that their employers had experienced an average of 2.57 ransomware attacks that had led to downtime in the last 12 months and 14% admit to five, or more, ransomware attacks causing downtime in the last year.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×