2021 Ransomware Payments Double From '20: Palo Alto CEO

With ransomware attacks like Colonial Pipeline “in the spotlight recently,” Palo Alto Networks data shows the average ransom paid in 2020 tripled from 2019, “and in 2021 it's more than doubled again,” said CEO Nikesh Arora on a Thursday call for fiscal Q3 ended April 30. Organized groups with “near-nation state discipline” are perpetrating “coordinated attacks,” he said. Healthcare corporations are a common target, as are government entities and “shared infrastructure,” he said. Especially vulnerable are organizations that “run their operations on technology that is decades old, sometimes predating the internet,” said Arora. “They continually bolt on new technologies to automate facilities, and make them compatible with the modern internet, but those platforms are inherently insecure.” Cyber defenses are fragmented, “making it very challenging to block sophisticated attacks,” and extending the time “to discovery and repair,” he said: “More and more businesses and consumers are coming online without a baseline of productive protection.” Q3 revenue of $1.07 billion grew 24% year over year, ahead of guidance for 21% to 22% growth. Its fiscal Q4 outlook is for revenue to grow 22% to 23% again. The stock closed 5.8% higher Friday at $362.45.