The Cisco report warned of more sophisticated ransomware issues in the future and organizations are unprepared to face it.
Fragile infrastructure, poor network hygiene, and slow detection rates are cited as factors opening doors for attackers.
According to the report, the struggle to constrain the operational space of attackers is the biggest challenge facing businesses and threatens the underlying foundation required for digital transformation.
So far in 2016, ransomware has become the most profitable malware type in history. Cisco expects to see this trend continue with more destructive ransomware that can spread by itself and hold entire networks hostage.
According to Cisco, future ransomware attacks will evade detection. It is possible by being able to limit CPU usage and refrain from command-and-control actions.
The study found these new ransomware strains will spread faster and self-replicate within organizations before coordinating ransom activities.
If that happens, visibility across the network and endpoints will remain a primary challenge. On average, organizations take up to 200 days to identify new threats.
Cisco notes that faster time to detection of threats is critical to constrain attackers’ operational space and minimize damage from intrusions.
To stay protected, Cisco advises organisations to improve network hygiene, integrate defences, measure time to detect an attach, and most importantly, keep back up of critical data.