Report: Ransomware attacks cost local and state governments over $18 billion in 2020

A new report from consumer tech information site Comparitech shows that cyber attacks cost American government organizations about $18.88 billion in recovery costs and downtime in 2020.

Last year, U.S. government organizations suffered 79 ransomware attacks, which potentially impacted 71 million people. This marked a 35 percent decrease in the number of ransomware attacks counted in 2019.

The hackers behind these attacks demanded ransom amounts from between $2,500 and $5 million. The average ransom demanded in 2020 was $570,857. Over $1.75 million was actually paid to hackers.

Only 39 out of 79 victims revealed figures of the downtime that the ransomware attacks caused, and these attacks forced 773 days to be lost to downtime.

Over the past three years, 246 ransomware attacks struck U.S. government organizations, according to the report. These attacks potentially affected over 173 million people, may have cost $52.88 billion. The goals of most of those attacks were to halt processes, interrupt services and cause disruption, not to steal data.

American City & County has published extensively on the actions local governments can take to spot, prevent, respond to and recover from ransomware attacks. Below is a selection of articles concerning ransomware that we’ve published over the past year:

How ransomware threats are evolving and how to spot them

Key steps governments can take to guard against malware attacks

Preventing and responding to ransomware

Responding to ransomware: Questions government business and tech leaders should ask

Risk beyond ransomware: Three steps to improving your cybersecurity