Ransomware is the most significant cybersecurity threat facing organisations ranging from critical national infrastructure providers and large enterprises to schools and local businesses -but it's a threat that can be countered.

In a speech at the Chatham House Cyber 2021 Conference, Lindy Cameron, CEO of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), warned about several cybersecurity threats facing the world today, including supply chain attacks, the threat of cyber espionage and cyber aggression by hostile nation states, and cybersecurity exploits and vulnerabilities being sold to whoever wants to buy them. 

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But it's ransomware that is "the most immediate danger to UK businesses and most other organisations," said Cameron, who warned that many businesses are leaving themselves vulnerable because "many have no incident response plans, or ever test their cyber defences". 

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Drawing on examples of high-profile ransomware attacks around the world, including the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, the ransomware attack against Ireland's Health Service Executive and the ransomware attack against Hackney Council, Cameron detailed the "real-world impact" that these cyberattacks have had over the past year as cyber criminals encrypt networks and attempt to demand ransom payments of millions for the decryption key. 

One of the reasons why ransomware is still so successful is because some victims of the attacks will pay the ransom, perceiving it to be the best way to restore the network as quickly as possible