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Ransomware attacks surged 50% year-over-year in 2025 to nearly 7,900 publicly claimed incidents, even as the share of victims paying ransoms collapsed to an all-time low of 28% (Chainalysis, 2026 Crypto Crime Report).
The average total cost of a ransomware incident now runs 5.08 million when downtime, remediation, and lost business are tallied (IBM cost of a Data Breach Report 2025; Huntress, 2026).
Meanwhile, 7074 billion this year, the numbers below are the ones boards, security teams, and policymakers will reference all year.
- Key Takeaways:✎…
- Ransomware attacks rose 50% in 2025 to 7,874 publicly claimed incidents, and Q1 2026 is running more than 30% above the 2025 monthly average (NCC Group Threat Intelligence Report 2026; Cyble Threat Landscape Report January 2026).
- Only 28% of victims paid a ransom in 2025, down from 62.8% in 2024 — the lowest rate on record (Chainalysis, 2026 Crypto Crime Report).
- 86% of Coalition policyholders refused to pay any ransom in 2025, with UK policyholders restoring their systems with no ransom demands needing to be paid (Coalition, 2026 Cyber Claims Report).
- The median ransom payment surged 368% to $59,556 — meaning fewer victims paid, but those who did paid dramatically more (Chainalysis, 2026 Crypto Crime Report).
- Total on-chain ransomware payments fell 8% to $820 million in 2025 despite the attack surge (Chainalysis, 2026 Crypto Crime Report).
- Average initial ransom demands jumped 47% to over 16 million (Coalition, 2026 Cyber Claims Report).
- The average total cost per ransomware incident is $5.08 million — including downtime, remediation, lost revenue, and legal costs (IBM / Multiple, 2025–2026).
- **Average recovery cost, excluding ransom, is 1.53 million, down 442.73 million in 2024 (Sophos State of Ransomware 2025).
- 70% of ransomware attacks now use double extortion, combining encryption with data theft and leak threats (Coalition, 2026 Cyber Claims Report).
- 88% of SMB breaches involved ransomware in 2025, more than double the 39% rate at large enterprises (Verizon 2025 DBIR).
- Global cybersecurity spending is forecast to reach $244 billion in 2026, a 13.3% year-over-year increase (Gartner, February 2026).
- December 2025 set a two-year monthly record with 1,004 ransomware incidents recorded on the dark web (NordStellar, January 2026).
Note: Information2 Software provides comprehensive ransomware protection for all enterprises of all sizes.
Part 1. Attack Frequency & Volume
Overall Growth Trajectory
2025 shattered every prior record for ransomware activity, and 2026 opened at the same elevated pace. The numbers no longer show cyclical spikes — they reflect a structurally higher baseline. Multiple independent data sources converge on the same conclusion: ransomware is more frequent, more industrialized, and shows no sign of deceleration.
|
Metric |
Value |
Source |
|
Total publicly claimed ransomware attacks in 2025 |
7,874 (50% YoY increase) |
NCC Group Threat Intelligence Report 2026 |
|
Dark web ransomware cases recorded in 2025 |
9,251 (45% increase from 6,395 in 2024) |
NordStellar Research, January 2026 |
|
Cyble-tracked ransomware attacks in 2025 |
6,604 (52% increase from 2024) |
Cyble Annual Threat Landscape Report 2025 |
|
Q4 2025 attacks claimed by ransomware groups |
2,018 (avg. 673/month) |
Cyble Threat Landscape Report, January 2026 |
|
January 2026 claimed victims |
679 |
Cyble Threat Landscape Report, January 2026 |
|
December 2025 monthly record (dark web cases) |
1,004 |
NordStellar Research, January 2026 |
|
Unique ransomware groups tracked in 2025 |
134 (30% increase from 103 in 2024) |
NordStellar Research, January 2026 |
|
Projected ransomware incidents for 2026 |
Likely to exceed 12,000 |
NordStellar forecast, January 2026 |
The outlier that commands attention: December 2025 alone produced 1,004 dark web cases — a single-month figure that would have represented an entire quarter’s activity just two years ago. By April 2026, The Gentlemen RaaS group had already publicly listed over 320 victims on its data leak site, with 240 occurring in 2026 alone (Check Point Research, April 2026).
Geographic Distribution
The United States remains, by an overwhelming margin, the most targeted nation — a function of its concentration of wealth, digital infrastructure, and high cyber insurance penetration.
|
Metric |
Value |
Source |
|
US share of all dark web ransomware cases |
64% (3,255 cases, up 28% YoY) |
NordStellar Research, January 2026 |
|
US share of DLS claims |
~50% (3,936 of 7,819) |
Analyst1, 2025 Year in Review |
|
US share of Cyble-tracked attacks |
55% |
Cyble Annual Threat Landscape Report 2025 |
|
Canada |
352 cases (46% YoY increase) |
NordStellar Research, January 2026 |
|
Germany |
270 cases (97% YoY increase) |
NordStellar Research, January 2026 |
|
United Kingdom |
233 cases (2% YoY increase) |
NordStellar Research, January 2026 |
North America accounted for 81% of attacks observed. The disproportionate targeting of anglophone economies — particularly the US, Canada, and UK — reflects threat actors’ preference for developed markets where ransomware disruption carries maximum financial leverage.
Most Active Ransomware Groups
2025 marked the definitive end of the LockBit era. Sustained international law enforcement action knocked LockBit 3.0 — 2024’s most prolific group — entirely out of the top 10. In its place, Qilin established dominance, linked to over 1,000 attacks. The ransomware ecosystem has simultaneously fragmented: analysts now track 85 active extortion groups, up from a small handful of dominant strains just two years ago.
|
Metric |
Value |
Source |
|
Qilin: most active group in 2025 |
1,022 attacks (13% of total) |
NCC Group Threat Intelligence Report 2026 |
|
Akira: second most active |
755 attacks (149% YoY increase) |
NCC Group Threat Intelligence Report 2026 |
|
CL0P: third most active |
517 attacks (7% of total) |
NCC Group Threat Intelligence Report 2026 |
|
Qilin January 2026 alone |
115 claimed attacks |
Cyble Threat Landscape Report, January 2026 |
|
Active extortion groups tracked |
85 |
Chainalysis, 2026 Crypto Crime Report |
|
Top 20 groups’ share of all claims |
Nearly 70% |
Analyst1, 2025 Year in Review |
|
Akira average ransom demand |
$1.2 million (50% above non-Akira) |
Coalition / At-Bay, April 2026 |
The top 20 groups responsible for nearly 70% of all claims in 2025: Qilin (15%), Akira (10%), CL0P (6%), PLAY (5%), SAFEPAY (5%), INC RANSOM (5%), Lynx (3%), RansomHub (3%), DragonForce (3%), Sinobi (2%), and others (Analyst1, 2025 Year in Review).
Part 2. The Economics of Ransomware
Ransom Demands & Payments
The ransomware economy is undergoing a fundamental re-pricing. While aggregate payments declined 8% to 820 million in 2025, the median payment exploded 36860,000. Fewer victims are paying, but those who do face demands that have never been higher. This is not a sign of ransomware’s decline — it is a sign of its maturation. Attackers are consolidating around higher-value targets and extracting maximum value from the shrinking pool of payers.
Ransom Demands vs Payments 2023-2025:
|
Metric |
Value |
Source |
|
Total on-chain ransomware payments 2025 |
820 million(8892M in 2024) |
Chainalysis, 2026 Crypto Crime Report |
|
Payment rate (share of victims paying) |
28% (all-time low; down from 62.8% in 2024) |
Chainalysis, 2026 Crypto Crime Report |
|
Median ransom payment |
12,738 in 2024) |
Chainalysis, 2026 Crypto Crime Report |
|
Average initial ransom demand |
Over $1 million (47% YoY increase) |
Coalition, 2026 Cyber Claims Report |
|
86% of Coalition policyholders refused to pay |
Highest refusal rate on record |
Coalition, 2026 Cyber Claims Report |
|
Average ransom demand (BakerHostetler client data) |
4.24 million (702.5M) |
BakerHostetler, 2025 Data Security Incident Response Report |
|
Average ransom payment (BakerHostetler) |
682,702(36501,338) |
BakerHostetler, 2025 Data Security Incident Response Report |
|
Largest known ransom demand 2025 |
$98 million |
BakerHostetler, 2025 Data Security Incident Response Report |
The 86% refusal rate among Coalition policyholders — including 100% refusal among UK policyholders — signals a structural shift. Organizations are investing more in detection, hardened backups, and incident response capability rather than budgeting for ransom payments. As one insurance executive noted, “Backup strategies are working, and ransomware gangs are responding with data theft” (Coalition, 2026 Cyber Claims Report).
The True Cost: Downtime & Recovery
The ransom payment is the least of a victim’s financial worries. Recovery costs, even excluding any ransom, now average 1.53 million. Total incident costs – including downtime, lost revenue, legal fees, regulatory penalties, and reputational harm – reach 5.08 million on average.
The calculus is clear: the ransom is 7x smaller than the total attack cost, as Check Point Research estimates the total cost of an attack to the victim is seven times higher than what they pay to cybercriminals (CPR, March 2026).
|
Metric |
Value |
Source |
|
Average total cost per ransomware incident |
$5.08 million |
IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025 |
|
Average recovery cost excluding ransom |
1.53 million (down 442.73M) |
Sophos State of Ransomware 2025 |
|
Average CISO-reported recovery cost per incident |
$2.5 million |
Absolute Security Cyber Resilience Survey, January 2026 |
|
98% of organizations spent 5M to recover |
Span of spending range |
Absolute Security Cyber Resilience Survey, January 2026 |
|
55% of enterprise CISOs faced a disruptive cyberattack in 2025 |
— |
Absolute Security Cyber Resilience Survey, January 2026 |
|
57% took more than 4.5 days for full remediation |
19% stretched as long as two weeks |
Absolute Security Cyber Resilience Survey, January 2026 |
|
Cost multiplier: total cost vs. ransom paid |
7x (estimated) |
Check Point Research, March 2026 |
For organizations that need to restore operations rapidly, automated backup and disaster recovery solutions can dramatically compress recovery timelines. Zero organizations in the Absolute Security survey recovered within a single day, underscoring the gap between recovery ambition and operational reality.
Note: Info2Soft (Information2 Software) offers a robust remote disaster recovery solution with sub-second recovery points (Second-level RPO)
The Cyber Insurance Dimension
Cyber insurance markets tightened further in 2025, with carriers demanding higher security maturity as a precondition for coverage. The global cyber insurance market is projected to reach $22.5 billion in 2026 (Medhacloud / industry estimates).
|
Metric |
Value |
Source |
|
Global cyber insurance market size 2026E |
$22.5 billion |
Industry estimates |
|
Share of insured orgs whose policy covers only a fraction of damages |
42% |
Medhacloud, 2026 |
|
Cyber insurance claims denied for non-compliance |
21% (missing MFA, unpatched systems) |
Medhacloud, 2026 |
|
Premium impact of missing MFA |
25–40% higher premiums or outright denial |
Medhacloud, 2026 |
|
Applications requiring proof of EDR |
87% |
Medhacloud, 2026 |
|
Coalition recovered stolen funds in 2025 |
21.8million (avg.202K per incident, 32% recovery rate) |
Coalition, 2026 Cyber Claims Report |
|
Akira share of identified ransomware claims |
25% of incidents, avg. demand $926K |
Coalition, 2026 Cyber Claims Report |
Ransomware accounted for 21% of all cyber insurance claims in 2025, with frequency flat at 0.32% but severity dropping 19% to an average loss of $262,000 (Coalition, 2026 Cyber Claims Report).
Part 3. Industry Impact
Healthcare
Healthcare remains ransomware’s most profitable and consistent target. The sector’s high payment rates — 68–72% in healthcare versus approximately 40% in other sectors — create a self-reinforcing cycle that keeps attackers returning. A healthcare organization faces a cyberattack roughly every 10 hours, according to analysis of 592 incidents across 94 ransomware groups between January 2025 and February 2026.
|
Metric |
Value |
Source |
|
Healthcare ransomware attack frequency |
One every ~10 hours |
Securin Healthcare Threat Intelligence Report, April 2026 |
|
Healthcare ransom payment rate |
68–72% (vs. ~40% in other sectors) |
Securin Healthcare Threat Intelligence Report, April 2026 |
|
US healthcare organizations experiencing ≥1 cyberattack in 2025 |
93% |
Securin / industry survey, April 2026 |
|
Attacks that directly disrupted patient care |
72% of respondents reported disruption |
Securin / industry survey, April 2026 |
|
Confirmed US healthcare ransomware attacks 2025 |
134, exposing 11.7 million records |
Comparitech, cited by Infosecurity Magazine |
|
Healthcare avg. breach cost |
$10.22 million (highest of any industry; +9.2% YoY) |
IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025 |
|
Medical records black-market value |
1,000 per record |
Securin Healthcare Threat Intelligence Report, April 2026 |
A clear pattern emerges across healthcare incidents: attackers exploit vulnerabilities already listed in CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. “Attackers are walking through doors that were left open — and getting paid for it,” said Dr. Srinivas Mukkamala, CEO of Securin. For organizations holding sensitive patient data, implementing a comprehensive backup and disaster recovery strategy is no longer optional — it is a regulatory and operational imperative.
Manufacturing & Critical Infrastructure
Manufacturing and industrial sectors bore the brunt of ransomware by sheer volume in 2025, with industrials accounting for 28% of all recorded incidents. The convergence of IT and operational technology (OT) creates uniquely dangerous attack surfaces where ransomware can halt production lines, not just encrypt files.
|
Metric |
Value |
Source |
|
Industrial sector attacks 2025 |
2,190 (54% YoY increase; 28% of all incidents) |
NCC Group Threat Intelligence Report 2026 |
|
Industrial organizations hit by ransomware globally 2025 |
3,300 (vs. 1,693 in 2024) |
Dragos, February 2026 |
|
Most targeted industrial sub-sector |
Manufacturing, followed by transportation |
Dragos, February 2026 |
|
Manufacturing downtime costs since 2018 |
Over $17 billion |
Comparitech / VikingCloud estimate |
|
Manufacturing attacks prevented before encryption 2025 |
50% (up sharply from 26% in 2024) |
Sophos State of Ransomware in Manufacturing 2025 |
|
Attacks resulting in data encryption (manufacturing) |
40% (lowest rate in 5 years, down from 74% in 2024) |
Sophos State of Ransomware in Manufacturing 2025 |
|
Supply chain attacks YoY increase |
93% (154 in 2024 to 297 in 2025) |
BackBox, cited by CyberOne Security |
The manufacturing sector’s improved ability to stop attacks before encryption — 50% intercepted pre-encryption — represents a rare bright spot. But attackers have adapted: extortion-only attacks, which skip encryption entirely in favor of data theft and public leak threats, rose from 49% of claims in H1 2025 to 65% in H2 2025 (Resilience, February 2026).
Education & Government
Education and government sectors face a double burden: they hold sensitive personal data while operating on constrained budgets with aging infrastructure. Government agencies experienced the highest volume of cyberattack campaigns in 2025, while the education sector saw attacks rise 63% year-over-year.
|
Metric |
Value |
Source |
|
Government sector threat campaigns 2025 |
274 (highest among all industries) |
HPE Threat Labs, March 2026 |
|
Ransomware attacks on educational institutions 2025 |
251 (60% of UK middle schools, 85% of colleges, 91% of universities) |
Comparitech / Kaspersky, March 2026 |
|
Educational records breached 2025 |
3.96 million (up from 3.11 million in 2024) |
Comparitech, March 2026 |
|
Higher education attack increase |
63% (260 to 425 incidents) |
Quorum Cyber, 2026 Global Cyber Risk Outlook |
|
US government ransomware downtime losses (2018–2024) |
Over $1 billion |
VikingCloud / Comparitech |
|
H1 2025 government ransomware increase |
65% YoY (208 attacks) |
VikingCloud / Comparitech |
|
K-12 districts with no cybersecurity specialist |
66% |
VikingCloud / industry data |
Public administration and healthcare tied as the most targeted verticals in Q1 2026, each accounting for 24% of Cisco Talos IR engagements — the third consecutive quarter public administration led the list (Cisco Talos, Q1 2026 IR Trends Report).
Part 4. Attack Tactics & Evolution
One of the most consequential tactical shifts of 2025 is the rise of data-theft-only extortion, which bypasses encryption entirely. The percentage of extortion-only attacks rose from 49% in the first half of 2025 to 65% in the second half, according to cyber risk firm Resilience. This fundamentally changes the defense equation: backups, long the gold standard for ransomware recovery, cannot prevent data extortion when attackers steal data without ever deploying encryption.
|
Metric |
Value |
Source |
|
Double extortion attacks (encryption + data theft) |
70% of ransomware claims |
Coalition, 2026 Cyber Claims Report |
|
Data exfiltration in all ransomware attacks |
96% involved data exfiltration |
BlackFog / Vectra AI, February 2026 |
|
Extortion-only attacks H2 2025 |
65% of extortion claims (up from 49% in H1) |
Resilience, February 2026 |
|
Phishing as initial access vector (Q1 2026) |
Over one-third of IR engagements |
Cisco Talos, Q1 2026 IR Trends Report |
|
VPN/remote access as initial vector |
~73% of 2025 attacks started with VPN exploitation |
Insurtech Curated, April 2026 |
|
Attacks using RDP vulnerabilities |
34% of ransomware entries |
Medhacloud, 2026 |
|
Median dwell time |
14 days (up from 11 in 2024) |
Mandiant M-Trends 2026 |
|
Median time from initial access to hand-off |
22 seconds (down from 8+ hours in 2022) |
Mandiant M-Trends 2026 |
|
Voice phishing as initial vector |
11% of intrusions (second most common) |
Mandiant M-Trends 2026 |
|
Ransomware-as-a-Service share of attacks |
67% |
Medhacloud / multiple, 2026 |
The collapse in hand-off time — from over eight hours in 2022 to just 22 seconds in 2025 — represents an industrialization of the attack supply chain. Initial access brokers (IABs), who sell compromised network access to ransomware operators, earned approximately 1,427 in Q1 2023 to just $439 in Q1 2026, reflecting automation, AI-assisted tooling, and oversupply (Chainalysis, 2026 Crypto Crime Report).
Part 5. Data Loss & Recovery Realities
The gap between organizations’ confidence in their recovery capabilities and their actual outcomes is widening dangerously. While 90% of cybersecurity leaders express confidence they can recover quickly from a cyber incident, only 28% of organizations hit by ransomware were able to fully restore all their data. On average, organizations recover just 72% of affected data after a ransomware incident.
Confidence vs Reality Gap in Data Recovery 2025-2026:
|
Metric |
Value |
Source |
|
Cybersecurity leaders confident in rapid recovery |
90% |
Veeam Data Trust & Resilience Report 2026 |
|
Organizations fully restoring all data after ransomware |
28% |
Veeam Data Trust & Resilience Report 2026 |
|
Average data recovered after ransomware incident |
72% of affected data |
Veeam Data Trust & Resilience Report 2026 |
|
Ransomware victims recovering >90% of data |
10% |
DataNumen Data Loss Statistics Report 2025 |
|
Organizations hit by ransomware 2024–2025 |
70% |
DataNumen Data Loss Statistics Report 2025 |
|
Organizations recovering from backups after encryption |
54% (lowest rate in 6 years) |
Sophos State of Ransomware 2025 |
|
Paying victims who recovered all their data |
65% |
Medhacloud, 2026 |
|
Paying victims given recovery keys that didn’t work |
41% |
Coveware / Cyber Express, October 2025 |
|
Internal detection of intrusions |
52% (up from 43% in 2024) |
Mandiant M-Trends 2026 |
|
24/7 MDR prevented encryption in 100% of Akira attacks |
100% |
Coalition, 2026 Cyber Claims Report |
The data reveals a brutal arithmetic: paying the ransom is neither a guarantee of recovery nor the fastest path. Only 54% of organizations with encrypted data successfully restored from backups — the lowest backup effectiveness rate in six years, as attackers have become significantly better at finding and neutralizing backup infrastructure before deploying encryption (Sophos State of Ransomware 2025). For organizations evaluating their data resilience posture, investing in a hardened, immutable backup solution with regular recovery testing can mean the difference between a 24-hour disruption and a multi-week outage.
Part 6. The SMB Burden: Disproportionate and Growing
Small and medium-sized businesses are not collateral damage in ransomware campaigns — they are the primary target. 88% of SMB breaches in 2025 involved ransomware, more than double the 39% rate observed at large enterprises. The asymmetry is stark: SMBs face roughly 4x as many confirmed breaches as large organizations while operating with a fraction of the security resources.
SMB and Enterprise Ransomware Burden 2025:
|
Metric |
Value |
Source |
|
SMB breaches involving ransomware |
88% (vs. 39% for large enterprises) |
Verizon 2025 DBIR |
|
SMB breach rate vs. large organizations |
~4x more confirmed breaches |
Verizon 2025 DBIR |
|
SMBs experiencing ≥1 cyberattack in 2025 |
80% |
Spacelift / multiple, 2026 |
|
AI-driven SMB incidents |
41% of all SMB cyberattacks |
Spacelift / multiple, 2026 |
|
Average breach cost (orgs with <500 employees) |
$3.31 million |
IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025 |
|
SMBs with a formal incident response plan |
34% |
Spacelift / multiple, 2026 |
|
SMBs using MFA |
35% (65% do not use MFA) |
Spacelift / multiple, 2026 |
|
Average SMB downtime after ransomware |
24 days |
Verizon 2025 DBIR |
|
SMBs going bankrupt/out of business after cyberattack |
~20% (1 in 5) |
Mastercard SMB Cybersecurity Study 2025 |
|
Zero-day exploits targeting SMBs |
267% increase in 2025 |
Spacelift / SonicWall, 2026 |
|
Insider attacks on SMBs |
85% increase in 2024; avg. cost $812K/incident |
Spacelift / industry data |
The Mastercard survey of over 5,000 SMB owners found that almost one in five who experienced a cyberattack went bankrupt or went out of business, and 80% spent significant time rebuilding trust with customers and partners (Mastercard SMB Cybersecurity Study, 2025). The widely cited statistic that “60% of small businesses close within 6 months of an attack” has been officially debunked by the National Cybersecurity Alliance — but the real numbers remain alarming enough without embellishment.
For SMBs without dedicated security teams, outsourcing security monitoring and backup management to managed service providers reduces ransomware risk by up to 60% compared to self-managed environments (Medhacloud, 2026).
Part 7. Law Enforcement & Disruption Efforts
International law enforcement operations scaled significantly in 2025, targeting not just individual ransomware groups but the infrastructure layer that enables them. INTERPOL’s Operation Synergia III dismantled over 45,000 malicious IP addresses and servers across 72 countries between July 2025 and January 2026, leading to 94 arrests with 110 more individuals under investigation.
Law Enforcement Actions Against Ransomware: 2025–2026:
|
Metric |
Value |
Source |
|
INTERPOL Operation Synergia III malicious IPs dismantled |
45,000+ |
INTERPOL, March 2026 |
|
Countries participating in Synergia III |
72 |
INTERPOL, March 2026 |
|
Arrests made |
94 (110 under investigation) |
INTERPOL, March 2026 |
|
New ransomware variants identified by FBI in 2025 |
63 (~5.25 per month) |
FBI IC3 Annual Report 2025 |
|
Organizations breached by Play ransomware group (as of May 2025) |
~900 (up from 300 in October 2023) |
CISA/FBI Joint Advisory, January 2026 |
|
CISA KEV catalog growth in 2025 |
20% (including 24 vulnerabilities exploited by ransomware groups) |
Cyble / CISA, January 2026 |
|
LockBit 3.0 ranking after law enforcement action |
Fell out of top 10 entirely |
NCC Group Threat Intelligence Report 2026 |
|
Chainalysis: law enforcement targeted infrastructure layer |
Bulletproof hosting providers, malware loading tools |
Chainalysis, 2026 Crypto Crime Report |
The FBI identified 63 new ransomware variants in 2025, with Akira, Qilin, RansomHub, LockBit, and Medusa having the greatest impact on critical sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, and government facilities (FBI IC3 Annual Report 2025). The Play ransomware group alone breached approximately 900 organizations as of May 2025 — a 3x increase from the 300 reported in October 2023 (CISA/FBI Joint Advisory).
Ransomware & Data Loss by the Numbers: Summary Table
|
Metric |
Value |
Source |
|
Ransomware attacks YoY increase 2025 |
50% (7,874 claimed incidents) |
NCC Group 2026 |
|
Dark web ransomware cases 2025 |
9,251 (45% YoY increase) |
NordStellar 2026 |
|
Payment rate (victims paying ransom) |
28% (all-time low) |
Chainalysis 2026 |
|
Total on-chain ransomware payments 2025 |
$820 million (8% decline) |
Chainalysis 2026 |
|
Median ransom payment 2025 |
$59,556 (368% increase) |
Chainalysis 2026 |
|
Average initial ransom demand |
$1 million+ (47% increase) |
Coalition 2026 |
|
Average total cost per incident |
$5.08 million |
IBM 2025 |
|
Average recovery cost (excl. ransom) |
$1.53 million |
Sophos 2025 |
|
Organizations refusing to pay |
86% (Coalition policyholders) |
Coalition 2026 |
|
Double extortion attacks |
70% of ransomware claims |
Coalition 2026 |
|
SMB breaches involving ransomware |
88% (vs. 39% enterprises) |
Verizon 2025 DBIR |
|
Healthcare breach cost |
$10.22 million (highest) |
IBM 2025 |
|
Industrial sector share of all attacks |
28% (2,190 attacks) |
NCC Group 2026 |
|
Organizations fully recovering all data |
28% |
Veeam 2026 |
|
Global cybersecurity spending 2026E |
$244 billion |
Gartner 2026 |
|
Unique active extortion groups |
85 |
Chainalysis 2026 |
|
INTERPOL malicious IPs dismantled |
45,000+ |
INTERPOL 2026 |
|
Average SMB downtime after attack |
24 days |
Verizon 2025 DBIR |
|
Supply chain attacks increase |
93% YoY |
BackBox / CyberOne 2026 |
|
Global ransomware damage projection 2026 |
$74 billion(Projected) |
Industry estimates |
Methodology and Sources:
This report prioritizes primary-source data from original research reports, surveys, government filings, academic papers, and official company disclosures. All statistics were cross-referenced against at least one independent source where possible. We applied a recency standard prioritizing 2025–2026 data; figures older than 2024 are explicitly flagged as “most recent available.” Market size projections and growth rates were verified across two or more independent research firms. Where survey-based statistics are cited, we have noted sample sizes and methodology caveats (e.g., self-reported data) in context. No statistic in this report was invented, rounded for dramatic effect, or derived from unverifiable claims.
Primary sources cited:
- Chainalysis — 2026 Crypto Crime Report
- Coalition — 2026 Cyber Claims Report
- Sophos — State of Ransomware 2025; State of Ransomware in Manufacturing 2025; State of Ransomware in Healthcare 2025
- IBM — Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025
- Cyble — Annual Threat Landscape Report 2025; January 2026 Threat Landscape Report
- NCC Group — 2026 Threat Intelligence Report
- NordStellar — Ransomware Research, January 2026
- Mandiant (Google Cloud) — M-Trends 2026
- BakerHostetler — 2025 Data Security Incident Response Report
- Veeam — Data Trust & Resilience Report 2026
- Verizon — 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR)
- Absolute Security — Global Cyber Resilience Survey, January 2026
- FBI — Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) Annual Report 2025
- INTERPOL — Operation Synergia III, March 2026
- Cisco Talos — IR Trends Q1 2026
- Securin — Healthcare Threat Intelligence Report, April 2026
- Dragos — Industrial Ransomware Analysis, February 2026
- Analyst1 — 2025 Year in Review: Ransomware & Extortion Activity
- HPE Threat Labs — 2025 Campaign Analysis, March 2026
- Gartner — Forecast: Information Security Worldwide, February 2026
- DataNumen — Data Loss Statistics Report 2025
- BlackFog / Vectra AI — Ransomware Data Exfiltration Analysis, February 2026
- Resilience — Cyber Risk Report, February 2026
- Coveware by Veeam — Q3 2025 Ransomware Report
- Mastercard — SMB Cybersecurity Study 2025
- Comparitech — US Healthcare Ransomware Analysis 2025; Education Sector Ransomware 2025
- Check Point Research — The Gentlemen RaaS Analysis, April 2026
- At-Bay — Cyber Insurance Claims Analysis, April 2026
- SonicWall — Cyber Protect Report, March 2026
- Spacelift — Small Business Cybersecurity Statistics 2026 (compilation citing Verizon, IBM, FBI, Hiscox, CrowdStrike, Sophos, KnowBe4)
- Kaspersky — Education Sector Ransomware Analysis, March 2026
- Quorum Cyber — 2026 Global Cyber Risk Outlook for Higher Education
- Bitsight — Q1 2026 CTI Observations
Last updated: May 2026. We update this page quarterly with the latest data from all primary sources.
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