A survey of 500 IT decision-makers in British companies that have more than 250 employees has found that 42% are stockpiling digital currencies, like Bitcoin, in anticipation of a ransomware attack.
The survey, commissioned by Citrix UK and carried out by One Poll, attempted to understand the strategies that companies are adopting to deal with anticipated ransomware attacks.
Ransomware attacks Windows computers and, over the last 18 months, has become the most widely reported scourge attacking these systems. The most recent, known as WannaCry, attacked systems in several countries last month.
The number of companies stockpiling digital currencies in 2016 was 33%.
{loadposition sam08}"Large UK businesses stockpile an average of 23 Bitcoins in case they are suddenly hit by an attack," the survey found.
"Almost one in three (28%) keep more than 30 Bitcoins on standby – providing them with the equivalent of more than £50,000 (as of 5 June) in cryptocurrency in preparation." That is the equivalent of A$85,856.
Only 22% of those surveyed indicated that they were unwilling to pay a ransom, down from 25% the previous year.
However, the survey found that smaller businesses were still more likely to hoard digital money compared to larger firms.
It said 50% of businesses with 250-500 employees were stockpiling digital currency now, while 36% had been doing so the previous year.
By comparison, a quarter of large businesses with more than 1000 employees were taking this approach.
While the 2016 survey had found that a fifth of the companies with between 250 and 500 employees had no contingency measures in place to deal with a ransomware attack, the 2017 survey found this had fallen to 7%.
The survey of the 500 decision-makers was carried out between 22 and 26 May. Prior to that, a poll of 250 IT and security specialists in companies with more than 250 employees was conducted by Censuswide between 19 and 24 May.