Victims of ransomware attacks are being urged to come forward and report incidents in order to help prevent other companies being hit with what's described as the biggest cybersecurity threat around.

Ransomware attacks have long been a significant cybersecurity issue, causing disruption to critical infrastructure, healthcare, businesses and services around the world. And the potential for disruption is so great that a UK government minister has described it as a national security threat. 

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"The greatest cyber threat to the UK -one now deemed severe enough to pose a national security threat -is from ransomware attacks," Steve Barclay, lead minister for cybersecurity told the National Cyber Security Centre's (NCSC) CyberUK conference in Newport, Wales.

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Barclay said the National Crime Agency (NCA) receives, on average, one report about a victim of a Russia-based group responsible for ransomware attacks every week. No details were given about which ransomware gangs attacks have been reported by, but many of the most notorious cyber criminal groups are suspected to operate out of Russia. 

Ransomware attacks remain a cybersecurity problem because they're effective. That's because, despite warnings not to, a significant percentage of victims opting to pay a ransom in order to retrieve their encrypted files. 

It's estimated that in 2020 alone ransomware attacks cost the UK