So far this year, 182 US organizations have been at the receiving end of a ransomware attack, new figures released by Armor show. The victims include 70 municipalities, 49 US school districts and colleges, as well as 27 healthcare organizations.
According to Chris Hinkley of Armor, organizations in the government, education and healthcare sectors are popular targets for ransomware attacks because these organizations provide critical services to communities and are therefore under a lot of pressure to do whatever it takes to keep serving their communities, even if that means paying ransom. In addition, government organizations often lack the resources to lock down their IT systems, which makes them “targets of opportunity.”
Read more: Ransomware Strikes 49 School Districts & Colleges in 2019
