Madison Strategic Sector Premium Fund : Healthcare, Education, Public Sector Hit Hard by Ransomware in 2020

Despite a global health crisis and disruption to many businesses around the world, ransomware attackers didn't slow down their efforts in 2020. A recent study from Emsisoft shows that 560 health care facilities, 1,681 schools, and 113 government agencies were attacked with ransomware last year, and that's just in the United States. Although hackers impact businesses of all kinds in various industries, managed service providers (MSPs) often deal with the brunt of attacks on not only small and medium businesses (SMBs) but attacks on their own business-critical data as well.

What does this mean for MSPs and their clients?

MSPs know ransomware is not a new trend, and many, if not all have been working to improve their cybersecurity strategy for years to protect themselves and their SMB clients from these risks. In our recent State of the Channel Ransomware Report, nearly 70% of MSPs reported ransomware as the top malware threat to their clients. MSPs also reported:

• SMBs aren't the only businesses being targeted - 95% of MSPs agree that their own businesses are increasingly being targeted with attacks
• MSPs report that the average cost of downtime is 94% greater than it was in 2019
• 92% of MSPs predict ransomware attacks will continue at current, or worse, rates
• Healthcare isn't the only industry affected by ransomware - MSPs report more than 15 other industries are impacted by ransomware on a regular basis

As ransomware threats continue to persist, one thing remains clear: business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) is a reliable solution to get businesses back up and running in the event of a ransomware attack. 91% of MSPs report that clients with BCDR solutions in place are less likely to experience significant downtime during a ransomware attack, ensuring business productivity disruptions are kept to a minimum.