Since the arrival of weapons-grade ransomware in Q1 2014, KnowBe4 has been helping customers protect their networks against ransomware infections. We even offered a ransomware guarantee of about $1,000 in case a customer got infected and needed to pay in Bitcoin. That was the early days. At the time of this writing, Q1 2021, ransomware has metastasized and has mutated into a combination of locking down machines, data exfiltration causing a full-on data breach, and DDoS attacks to extort the maximum amount of money. At this time, there are professional cybersecurity insurance policies available that cover both the cost of downtime and payment of the ransom in case that is required. At the moment, the average ransom payment is $154,108, with a median ransom payment amount of $49,450 as reported by Coveware.
Conclusion, starting Jan 1, 2021 KnowBe4 announces End-of-Life for our now somewhat dated ransomware guarantee.
Warm regards
Stu Sjouwerman
Founder and CEO,
KnowBe4, Inc.
