Security Watch: keeping the beast at bay

Targeted, multi-stage ransomware attacks are expected to cost the global economy $6 trillion this year. Róisín Kiberd examines the ways to prevent them

Ransomware is now extremely visible. It can no longer be dismissed as something that only happens to other people, and cybersecurity is now recognised as a necessity at every level of business. Picture: Getty

Ransomware is the threat that keeps on winning. Since its inception with virus-carrying floppy disks in the late 1980s, the number of attacks has escalated year-on-year.

In 2021 the average cost of ransomware transactions added up to $102.3 million (€90.3 million) per month, according to the US Treasury department’s financial crimes enforcement network.

“Ransomware has changed this year. There have been peaks and troughs. It used to be a case of someone just clicking on ...