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Authors

Country

Method

Sample

Main findings

Choi et al. [15]

USA

Quantitative analysis of secondary data

13 reported attacks on police departments from 2013 to 2016

Online lifestyle and cybersecurity stance contribute to ransomware victimization

Zhao et al. [16]

USA

Mixed methods case study: questionnaire and interviews

Medical students and surgeons in a hospital that experienced a SamSam ransomware attack (29 survey respondents; 8 interviewees)

Students who are ‘digital natives’ were seriously stressed by lack of access to electronic resources and were not well adapted to adjust to paper-based workflows

Zhang-Kennedy et al. [17]

USA

Mixed methods case study: questionnaire and interviews

Staff and students in a large university that experienced a ransomware attack at a critical time (150 survey respondents; 30 interviewees)

It took several days to recover basic services and the after-effects on user productivity were felt for a considerable time afterward. Substantial data loss and emotional effects on staff.

Hull et al. [18]

Mixed methods: questionnaire and interviews

46 questionnaire respondents and 8 interviews (university staff, students and SMEs)

Universities are more likely to be attacked than SMEs; ransomware victims only had basic defences in place

Shinde et al. [19]

The Netherlands

Mixed methods: questionnaire and interviews

Snowball sample of 23 individuals and 2 semi-structured interviews

Most ransomware attacks use an untargeted ‘shotgun’ approach; security awareness among victims was low

Ioanid et al. [20]

Romania

Questionnaire

Survey of 123 SMEs

Organization size and turnover is positively correlated with number of attacks; manager education is key prevention factor

Byrne and Thorpe [21]

Ireland

Brief interviews

Three organizations that had suffered attacks

E-mail filtering software had been removed because of the overhead it was placing on IT departments; in the wake of attacks, security training and awareness programmes were ramped up.

Riglietti [22]

Not stated

Content analysis of discussions

301 posts extracted from four online security blogs

Content analysis technique can increase our understanding of security challenges within organizations

Table 1.

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Previous empirical studies of ransomware attacks on organizations

Authors	Country	Method	Sample	Main findings
Choi et al. [15]	USA	Quantitative analysis of secondary data	13 reported attacks on police departments from 2013 to 2016	Online lifestyle and cybersecurity stance contribute to ransomware victimization
Zhao et al. [16]	USA	Mixed methods case study: questionnaire and interviews	Medical students and surgeons in a hospital that experienced a SamSam ransomware attack (29 survey respondents; 8 interviewees)	Students who are ‘digital natives’ were seriously stressed by lack of access to electronic resources and were not well adapted to adjust to paper-based workflows
Zhang-Kennedy et al. [17]	USA	Mixed methods case study: questionnaire and interviews	Staff and students in a large university that experienced a ransomware attack at a critical time (150 survey respondents; 30 interviewees)	It took several days to recover basic services and the after-effects on user productivity were felt for a considerable time afterward. Substantial data loss and emotional effects on staff.
Hull et al. [18]	UK	Mixed methods: questionnaire and interviews	46 questionnaire respondents and 8 interviews (university staff, students and SMEs)	Universities are more likely to be attacked than SMEs; ransomware victims only had basic defences in place
Shinde et al. [19]	The Netherlands	Mixed methods: questionnaire and interviews	Snowball sample of 23 individuals and 2 semi-structured interviews	Most ransomware attacks use an untargeted ‘shotgun’ approach; security awareness among victims was low
Ioanid et al. [20]	Romania	Questionnaire	Survey of 123 SMEs	Organization size and turnover is positively correlated with number of attacks; manager education is key prevention factor
Byrne and Thorpe [21]	Ireland	Brief interviews	Three organizations that had suffered attacks	E-mail filtering software had been removed because of the overhead it was placing on IT departments; in the wake of attacks, security training and awareness programmes were ramped up.
Riglietti [22]	Not stated	Content analysis of discussions	301 posts extracted from four online security blogs	Content analysis technique can increase our understanding of security challenges within organizations

Authors	Country	Method	Sample	Main findings
Choi et al. [15]	USA	Quantitative analysis of secondary data	13 reported attacks on police departments from 2013 to 2016	Online lifestyle and cybersecurity stance contribute to ransomware victimization
Zhao et al. [16]	USA	Mixed methods case study: questionnaire and interviews	Medical students and surgeons in a hospital that experienced a SamSam ransomware attack (29 survey respondents; 8 interviewees)	Students who are ‘digital natives’ were seriously stressed by lack of access to electronic resources and were not well adapted to adjust to paper-based workflows
Zhang-Kennedy et al. [17]	USA	Mixed methods case study: questionnaire and interviews	Staff and students in a large university that experienced a ransomware attack at a critical time (150 survey respondents; 30 interviewees)	It took several days to recover basic services and the after-effects on user productivity were felt for a considerable time afterward. Substantial data loss and emotional effects on staff.
Hull et al. [18]	UK	Mixed methods: questionnaire and interviews	46 questionnaire respondents and 8 interviews (university staff, students and SMEs)	Universities are more likely to be attacked than SMEs; ransomware victims only had basic defences in place
Shinde et al. [19]	The Netherlands	Mixed methods: questionnaire and interviews	Snowball sample of 23 individuals and 2 semi-structured interviews	Most ransomware attacks use an untargeted ‘shotgun’ approach; security awareness among victims was low
Ioanid et al. [20]	Romania	Questionnaire	Survey of 123 SMEs	Organization size and turnover is positively correlated with number of attacks; manager education is key prevention factor
Byrne and Thorpe [21]	Ireland	Brief interviews	Three organizations that had suffered attacks	E-mail filtering software had been removed because of the overhead it was placing on IT departments; in the wake of attacks, security training and awareness programmes were ramped up.
Riglietti [22]	Not stated	Content analysis of discussions	301 posts extracted from four online security blogs	Content analysis technique can increase our understanding of security challenges within organizations

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