Imperva , Inc ( IMPV ) , committed to protecting business-critical data and applications in the cloud and on-premises , today announced the results of a survey of 170 security professionals taken at RSA 2017 , the world ’ s largest security conference , exploring their experiences with ransomware . Thirty-two percent of respondents said their company had been infected with ransomware with 11 percent taking longer than a week to regain access to their systems after an attack . According to CNN , in 2016 , the FBI estimated that ransomware would be a $ 1 billion a year crime . More than half ( 59 percent ) of those surveyed said that the cost of downtime due to lack of access to systems for customers and employees was the biggest business impact of a ransomware attack Attack.Ransom . Twenty-nine percent said that if their company suffered a ransomware attack Attack.Ransom which 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 extortion Attack.Ransom or 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 ransom Attack.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 attacks Attack.Ransom are 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 .