Beazley Breach Response Services has published a report with its analysis of the more than 3,300 data incidents it investigated in 2018. Among other highlights, the report notes that 71% of ransomware attacks targeted small-to-medium sized companies (SMBs). The report also observed that the average ransomware demand in 2018 was more than $116,000, although this was skewed by some very large demands. The median was $10,310. The highest demand received among the cases investigated by Beazley was for $8.5 million – the equivalent of 3,000 Bitcoin at the time. Beazley also reported a 133% increase in the number of business email compromise (BEC) attacks in 2018 compared to the previous year. Speaking about all of the attacks Beazley examined in 2018, Beazley Global Head of Breach Response Services Katherine Keefe said, “The threat posed by cyber criminals continues to grow in complexity as they devise new techniques to breach IT security and trick unsuspecting employees into allowing them access to systems. Unfortunately, we see these threats globally across all sectors and we strongly believe that education about the risks and preparedness are as important as IT security measures for protecting individuals and assets from cyber attacks.” Read the report at Beazley.