. Twenty-nine percent said that if their company suffered a ransomware attackAttack.Ransomwhich resulted in downtime , they would be losing between $ 5,000 and $ 20,000 a day . Twenty-seven percent thought that the amount could be over $ 20,000 a day . “ Whether companies choose to pay the extortionAttack.Ransomor not , the real cost of ransomware is downtime and lost productivity , ” said Terry Ray , chief product strategist at Imperva . “ Even if victims have backup files or are willing to pay the ransomAttack.Ransom, the cost associated with productivity downtime adds up quickly . What ’ s more , the availability of ransomware-as-a-service , combined with high profits for the attackers , means ransomware attacksAttack.Ransomare likely to escalate in 2017 , ” he added . “ The interesting thing about ransomware is how simple it is to execute and how easy it is to inflict damage . Organizations tend to think of hacking as though it was rocket science which always puts them on the losing end . The reality is that hacking is most often simple , and mitigating it requires proper attention and tools which do exist and are within reach of most enterprises . Hacking is a serious business and enterprises should , therefore , treat information security seriously , ” Ray concluded .