Figures from Datto show that ransomware costs businesses on average, $75 billion a year; this includes the ransom itself, subsequent recovery efforts, organizational and IT initiatives to protect the organization from further attacks, as well as downtime, forensic investigation, training costs, restoration, and loss of revenue/productivity. More conservative estimates by Cybersecurity Ventures places ransomware damage at more than $11.5 billion in 2019, which is a startling rise from a modest $325 million four years ago. Whether the figure is $75 billion or $11.5 billion, the devastation is very real to those experiencing ransomware. In May of 2019, for example, the City of Baltimore was shut out of government systems for over a month. Vital systems for vaccine production, ATMs, airports, and hospitals were all impacted. Although the ransomware demand was $76,000, the recovery price tag amounted to nearly $20 million.