Pittsburgh security provider’s report finds ransomware attacks on businesses to be increasing

PITTSBURGH — A new report from a cybersecurity provider in Pittsburgh claimed that 20% of all ransomware attacks on businesses that it has ever received reports on have occurred in the past 12 months as scams are increasingly impacting consumers and businesses.

Ransomware is a type of malicious software that can be downloaded to computers or other systems that prevents users from accessing these systems until a sum of money is paid to the attackers.

Per the latest annual report from Hornetsecurity Group, which is based in Germany but calls offices in Bakery Square the home of its U.S. operations, a survey of more than 2,000 IT leaders found that 24% of them reported being a victim of a ransomware attack, with one in five of those surveyed reporting that these incidents occurred in the past year.