What percentage of ransomware attacks are targeted vs. opportunistic?

What percentage of ransomware attacks are targeted vs. opportunistic?

Ransomware attacks are becoming increasingly common, with a large range of organizations and organizations coming down with these data-encrypting malware attacks.  this While some ransomware attacks are highly targeted and carefully planned out by cybercriminals, others are more opportunistic in nature. So, what portion of ransomware attacks are targeted vs. opportunistic?

click this over here now According to a current report from Symantec, roughly 1 in 5 ransomware attacks are targeted, while the remaining 4 out of 5 are opportunistic. This means that while a small minority of ransomware attacks are performed against specific companies or individuals, the large bulk are random attacks that benefit from vulnerabilities in systems and networks.

Targeted ransomware attacks are generally a lot more harmful than opportunistic attacks, as they are typically performed by more skilled and sophisticated cybercriminals. Furthermore, targeted attacks are often harder to prevent, as they are often personalized to exploit specific weaknesses in a target company's systems.


While opportunistic ransomware attacks can be harmful, they are usually less disruptive and costly than targeted attacks. Additionally, opportunistic attacks are frequently more quickly discovered and avoided, as they typically depend on known vulnerabilities that can be patched.

Organizations and people can help protect themselves from both targeted and opportunistic ransomware attacks by keeping up to date on security patches, utilizing strong security software application, and supporting data regularly.