site.btaCompanies Pay Out More Than Two Million Euro as Ransom after Cyber-attacks

Companies Pay Out More Than Two Million Euro as Ransom after Cyber-attacks

Dobrich, Northeastern Bulgaria, October 13 (BTA) - Bulgarian companies paid out more than two million euros in ransom money after cyber-attacks for one year, Valentin Genev, an expert in digital and fiscal security, said Thursday, speaking at a forum on how to protect the business against cyber criminals. The discussion is organized by the Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises Promotion Executive Agency (SMEPEA).

Given that companies tend to carry out their business totally online, hackers can easily and quickly access sensitive information if proper security measures are absent, SMEPEA's Nikolai Petkanov said.

The average ransom businesses pay out to get back stolen data about customers, suppliers, prices, etc., is 15,000 euro, Genev said. About 60 per cent of businesses who have fallen victim to a cyber-attack go bust after six months. Genev said that more than 80 per cent of SMEs underestimate cyber-security. He said that the businesses are an easy target for cyber-attacks because 90 per cent of the staff is not trained in security measures and the security is "elementary". This also means that the companies cannot meet the data security and reliability standards for working with foreign partners.

Genev said that the easiest security measures are using licensed software and anti-virus software, frequent data back-ups and care what files are being opened.