Companies found to be stockpiling Bitcoin in order to pay ransoms

New research by corporate networking company Citrix has discovered that businesses are stockpiling Bitcoin, so that that can pay ransoms quickly if their data is held to ransom. This 'ransomware' is responsible for locking up large volumes of individual and business data held by public sector organisations who are choosing to pay in order to retrieve this data. This phenomenon may be contributing to the current steady rise of Bitcoin's price.

A small survey by corporate networking company Citrix indicates that some IT professionals are even stockpiling bitcoins so they can pay up quickly in the event ransomware strikes their network. Out of 250 IT and security workers at U.K. companies with more than 250 employees, a third said they were stockpiling the currency. A researcher at Cornell recently tweeted that the university’s treasurer created an account with the Bitcoin exchange Coinbase so as to be ready if ransomware struck.

Almost half of respondents in the Citrix survey said that company data was not backed up at least daily. Security experts advise that backups are the best defense against ransomware and generally discourage paying off ransomware, since it encourages the industry.

Holding Bitcoin in reserve could help a company without backups get back online faster. Most companies have no reason to have a Bitcoin account otherwise. Having one ready to go could save precious time during which a company can’t operate as normal.

Just how many companies are setting aside ransom money in advance is probably hard to know because it’s something they may be loath to advertise. Acknowledging that you are ready to pay—and perhaps don’t have a good backup system—could attract the attacks this policy is designed to handle.

(Read more: “With Hospital Ransomware Infections, the Patients Are at Risk,” “Holding Data Hostage: the Perfect Internet Crime”)