220 Japanese companies pay ransomware, 60 percent fail to recover data

Jakarta (ANTARA) - At least 222 companies in Japan have paid ransomware perpetrators, but around 60 percent of them still failed to recover their data, according to the latest survey.

The Kyodo website on Monday (20/4) local time reported that out of 1,107 companies responding to the January survey by the Japan Institute for Promotion of Digital Economy and Community, 507 reported having experienced ransomware attacks, which are hacks that lock data access and demand ransom for recovery.

Of the companies that paid the ransom, 83 successfully recovered their systems and data, while 139 others did not. In contrast, 141 companies reported being able to recover their systems and data without paying the ransom despite being attacked.

Experts state that ransoms should not be paid as they can fund criminal organisations. The institution also emphasised that the survey results show the reality that paying ransoms does not guarantee data recovery.

Around half of the affected companies reported financial losses, including ransom payments and system recovery costs, ranging from 1 million yen (approximately Rp108 million) to under 50 million yen (Rp5.4 billion).

Meanwhile, 16 percent admitted to experiencing minor losses or none at all, and another 4.3 percent suffered losses of up to 1 billion yen (Rp108 billion) or more.

The survey also showed that the recovery process generally takes between one week and one month, as reported by 176 affected companies. However, some companies stated that their data had not recovered even after three months.

Yukimi Sota from the Japanese subsidiary of US cybersecurity firm Proofpoint recommended keeping security software always updated and the importance of routinely backing up data to minimise the impact of attacks.