Ransomware Statistics 2025: Record Attacks and Falling Payments

• Ransomware volume is at record highs in 2025 attacks surged 34% YoY, reaching 4,701 incidents globally in early 2025.
• Ransom payments are at record lows, fewer than one third of victims now pay, down from 50% in 2024.
• Median ransom demand $1.3M, median payment $1.0M.
• Most attacks use double extortion, encrypt + steal data.
• Most targeted industries are manufacturing +61% YoY, healthcare, and other high impact sectors.
• Due to stronger backups and IR plans, 97% of organizations recover their data, and 53% restore operations within a week.
• Still average recovery costs exceed $1.5M, showing the financial impact remains severe.
• Below detailed 2025 ransomware trends, industry patterns, cost breakdowns, and defensive strategies for modern threats.

Ransomware in 2025 is more rampant than ever, but there’s a twist fewer victims are giving in to extortion demands. In the first nine months of 2025, ransomware attacks jumped by 34% globally, yet ransom payment rates plummeted to historic lows. This matters because ransomware isn’t just a tech headache it’s a multi million dollar business disruption. Companies worldwide are facing sky high attack volumes but are also getting better at withstanding the pressure. In this article, we’ll explore the latest ransomware statistics and what they mean for organizations in 2025, from surging attack counts and shifting attacker tactics to the real costs of an incident and ways to stay protected.

What Is Ransomware 2025 Update?

Ransomware is malicious software that attackers use to encrypt files or steal data, holding an organization’s IT systems hostage until a ransom is paid. Modern ransomware has evolved into double extortion before encrypting anything, gangs exfiltrate sensitive data and threaten to leak it if payment isn’t made. In 2025, some threat actors don’t even bother encrypting files, they simply steal data and extort the victim, a tactic known as encryption-less ransomware. These attacks are faster and stealthier, but have a low success rate only 19% of victims pay when no encryption is involved. Ransomware has essentially become a high stakes shakedown that leverages both availability locking you out of systems and confidentiality exposing your data. Understanding the latest ransomware trends is crucial because the tactics and targets have shifted significantly in recent years.

Why Ransomware Statistics Matter in 2025

Ransomware isn’t slowing down, it's changing. The statistics for 2025 reveal a paradox attacks are at an all time high, but payouts are at an all time low. This signals that companies are improving their defenses which is good, but attackers are doubling down on destructive tactics to force payment which is scary. By examining ransomware statistics, we can spot patterns in how and why these attacks succeed or fail. For example, knowing which industries are most targeted and the average cost of a ransomware attack helps businesses prioritize their security investments. Stats also highlight emerging tactics like the surge in data theft and the rise of Ransomware as a Service so we can anticipate the next moves of cybercriminals. In short, understanding the numbers behind ransomware gives us insight into how to reduce our risk and respond effectively if it happens.

Ransomware Attack Volume Is Surging

Ransomware incidents have reached historic highs in 2025. Multiple reports confirm that global ransomware activity ramped up dramatically:

• Global Attack Spike: Between January and September 2025, there were 4,701 ransomware attacks reported worldwide up from 3,219 in the same period in 2024. That’s a 34% year over year increase, despite efforts by law enforcement to crack down on major gangs. In fact, by mid 2025 security researchers were observing roughly 520- 540 new ransomware victims per month, about double the rate of early 2024.
• High Tempo Threat: Unlike in past years, there was no summer lull or seasonality dip in 2025. Ransomware crews are hitting targets consistently month after month. By Q3 2025, leak site data showed 1,592 victims in that quarter alone, 25% more than Q3 2024. In other words, the ransomware threat has plateaued at an alarmingly high baseline thousands of attacks occur every month across the globe.
• Follow the Money: Attackers are zeroing in on countries and sectors where they can extort the most value. North America remains the epicenter, with the United States alone suffering 21% of all ransomware attacks globally ≈1,000 attacks in 2025. But other regions are heating up too. Europe accounts for roughly a quarter of cases, and Asia Pacific saw intense campaigns like a September 2025 spree by the Qilin gang that hit over 20 financial firms in South Korea in one go. Emerging markets are not spared in fact, ransomware incidents in Latin America jumped 70% in 2024, the fastest growth globally, indicating criminals expanding to regions with potentially softer defenses.

The sheer frequency of attacks means it’s increasingly likely any given organization could be targeted. Even if only a fraction of attempts succeed, 11,000+ ransomware attempts per day as some estimates suggest flood the internet and it only takes one successful breach. High attack volume also stretches incident responders thin and gives attackers cover in the crowd. Security teams must stay vigilant 24/7 as ransomware has become a relentless, non stop threat worldwide.

Fewer Victims Are Paying Ransoms Payout Rates Plummet

One of the most striking 2025 trends is that far fewer victims are paying ransom demands. Companies are increasingly refusing to reward the criminals. Consider these numbers:

• Victim Payment Rate Collapse: Just a couple years ago, the majority of ransomware victims paid up. In 2019, for instance, an estimated 85% of victims paid. By 2024 that had fallen to around 50- 56%. Now in 2025, studies show only about 23- 37% of victims pay the ransom. Coveware, a ransomware remediation firm, reported a record low 23% payment rate in Q3 2025 meaning over 3 out of 4 companies hit by ransomware chose not to pay. Similarly, IBM’s global data shows 63% of organizations refused to pay in 2025, with just 37% giving in, down from 41% in 2024. This is a huge shift in the cybercriminal business model.
• Why Are Ransom Payments Down? Several factors are driving this change
  • Better Backups & Recovery: Companies have massively improved their data backup strategies. In 2025, an estimated 97% of organizations that had data encrypted were able to recover it from backups or other means. When you can restore your files, paying a ransom for a decryption key makes no sense.
  • No Trust in Criminals: Ransomware actors earned a bad reputation for not holding up their end of the bargain. Some victims paid but still had their data leaked or didn’t fully get their files back. This eroded trust. Today many firms assume paying won’t guarantee anything Coveware notes that pure data extortion attacks no encryption have only a 19% payment rate precisely because victims doubt the hacker will actually delete the stolen data.
  • Cyber Insurance & Regulations: Cyber insurance providers are tightening the screws they often require clients to attempt recovery first and may refuse to reimburse ransom payments if other options exist. There’s also talk of ransom payments being banned or discouraged by governments, removing the incentive to pay. See our deep dive on cyber insurance claims trends and data for how insurance is reshaping breach responses.
  • Law Enforcement Pressure: Global crackdowns have taken down some ransomware infrastructure and traced cryptocurrency payments, making paying ransoms riskier for both attacker and victim. Many organizations now involve law enforcement early, and 52% of ransomware victims in 2024 involved law enforcement, which correlated with lower breach costs. In short, the default mindset is shifting from just pay it to make it go away to don’t negotiate with extortionists.

Smaller Ransom Demands & Negotiated Settlements: Facing fewer willing payers, ransomware gangs have had to moderate their ransom demands. The days of $10 million demands are waning. According to Sophos, the median ransom demand in 2025 was about $1.32 million, down 34% from $2.0M the year prior. The median actual payment dropped even more roughly $1.0 million in 2025, a 50% drop from $2.0M in 2024. In practice, victims are also negotiating when they do pay. Over half 53% of organizations that paid a ransom in 2025 managed to negotiate a lower amount than the initial ask. Only 29% paid the full initial demand, while 18% even ended up paying more than asked e.g. due to miscommunications or additional extortion. But the key point is that ransom prices have come down overall, a sign that the ransomware market is adjusting to an era of fewer payers.

Ransomware crews are being forced to operate leaner and cheaper, indicating that strong defenses and policies like not paying ransoms are having an impact. However, lower demands don’t necessarily mean ransomware is less harmful attackers may try to compensate by hitting more victims or stealing more data to pressure organizations into paying. Also, even a $1 million ransom demand can be a huge expense imagine how many penetration testing services engagements you could fund with that likely enough to prevent the breach in the first place!. The decline in payment rates is a positive sign that many firms are no longer treating ransom payment as an acceptable solution. It underscores the importance of resilience if you can recover without paying, the attackers ultimately don’t profit.

The True Cost of a Ransomware Attack Downtime & Recovery

Even as ransom payments go down, the total cost of ransomware incidents remains devastatingly high. The ransom itself is often just a fraction of the full financial impact once you tally up downtime, cleanup, and long term fallout. Here’s what the stats show about ransomware costs in 2025:

• Business Disruption Costs: The biggest cost of a ransomware attack is usually the operational downtime. When systems are locked or offline, the business grinds to a halt. In 2025, the average downtime after a ransomware incident was around 20- 24 days according to various industry surveys, nearly three to four weeks of disruption. Some organizations recover faster now more on that in a moment, but others still suffer weeks of outage, missed sales, and lost productivity. For example, in manufacturing where assembly lines run on tight schedules, even a few days of downtime can ripple into millions in losses.
• Recovery Expenses IT Remediation: Beyond the ransom, companies spend heavily on incident response, forensics, hardware replacement, and security improvements post attack. The good news these recovery costs have decreased as organizations get better at handling incidents. Sophos reports the average cost to recover excluding any ransom was $1.53 million in 2025, down from $2.73 million in 2024. That’s a 44% reduction, likely thanks to more efficient response playbooks and quicker containment. Still, $1.5M per incident on IT recovery alone is a hefty price tag especially for small or mid sized businesses. For deeper analysis of remediation costs.
• Data Breach and Legal Costs: Ransomware attacks today almost always involve a data breach stolen sensitive data, which triggers notification requirements, regulatory fines, and lawsuits. These downstream costs are harder to quantify on average, but they can dwarf the IT costs. For instance, the average global cost of a data breach in 2025 was $4.44 million. For certain industries like healthcare, it’s much higher. IBM found healthcare breaches cost $7.42 million on average the most expensive of any sector. When ransomware exposes patient or customer data, organizations may face class action lawsuits, years of credit monitoring expenses, and regulatory penalties e.g. under GDPR or HIPAA. The reputational damage can also drive away customers and erode trust, adding to the long term financial pain.
• Ransom Payment if paid: If a victim does decide to pay the ransom, that’s an additional direct cost. As noted, the median payment in 2025 was about $1M. There have been a few outlier cases with much higher payments, but those are rarer now. It’s worth noting that paying a ransom does not guarantee lower overall costs. In fact, IBM’s research shows that organizations which involved law enforcement and refused to pay had lower average breach costs than those that paid. Paying can sometimes speed up decryption, but it might not reduce other costs like rebuilding systems or legal fallout and it could even invite future attacks criminals may mark you as a soft target.
• Insurance Impact: Cyber insurance often helps cover some costs, but in 2025 insurance policies are getting stricter. Many insurers cap ransom reimbursement or require certain security controls like EDR, MFA, regular penetration testing, etc. for coverage. Some victims find that after an incident, their premiums skyrocket or coverage is dropped. We’ve also seen insurers push clients to not pay and instead focus on recovery, since paying ransoms only incentivizes more crime in the long run.

On a brighter note, organizations are restoring operations more quickly overall. In 2025, 53% of ransomware victims recovered within one week of the attack, a big improvement from just 35% in 2024. A subset 16% even fully recovered in 1 day. This is thanks to robust incident response plans, regular drills, and resilient cloud backup architectures. Having offline, recent backups and a practiced recovery procedure can shrink downtime from months to days. Still, a significant portion nearly half of victims took more than a week to get back on their feet, and some critical infrastructure victims faced multi week outages. The gap is widening between well prepared organizations and those unprepared the latter can be down for 30+ days, incurring huge losses.

Ransomware’s pain quotient isn’t only measured in ransom dollars. The indirect costs lost business, downtime, recovery labor, customer churn, reputational damage often far exceed the ransom demand. A 2025 average ransomware incident including all facets has been estimated at $5- 6 million in total cost when everything is factored in. In sectors like healthcare or critical manufacturing, one attack can easily run into tens of millions in losses due to the high impact of disruption. This starkly underlines the value of prevention and preparedness. Investing in security controls and regular testing is cheap compared to the cost of a full blown ransomware disaster.

How Ransomware Infections Happen: Top Attack Vectors in 2025

To defend against ransomware, you need to know how attackers get in. The year 2025 saw some shifts in the most common initial access vectors for ransomware gangs:

• Unpatched Vulnerabilities Exploits 32%: The single biggest technical cause of ransomware attacks in 2025 was exploiting known vulnerabilities in public facing software. Roughly one third of incidents started with hackers leveraging a security flaw in a VPN server, web application, file transfer appliance, or other internet exposed system. This vector has topped the list for three years running. the 2023 MOVEit Transfer zero day led to a wave of data theft extortion. In 2025, flaws in Citrix Netscaler, Fortinet VPN, and Microsoft Exchange were among those hammered by ransomware affiliates. Many organizations still lag on patching critical updates, giving attackers a window of opportunity. With readily available exploit kits, even lower skilled cybercriminals can breach a network if it’s missing a key patch. Prompt patch management is crucial especially for any externally accessible systems.
• Stolen or Weak Credentials 23%: Nearly a quarter of ransomware attacks began with compromised credentials usernames/passwords to gain access. This often plays out as hackers logging in via Remote Desktop Protocol RDP or VPN using valid credentials that were either guessed brute force or bought on the dark web. The rise of Initial Access Brokers and dark web marketplaces means ransomware crews can purchase login credentials or even active VPN sessions for target networks see our Dark Web Price Index for how cheaply network access sells. In 2025, the flood of data from infostealer malware fueled this trend infostealers like RedLine or Raccoon swipe saved passwords and session cookies from infected PCs, and cybercriminals sell those in bulk. One report noted an 180% spike in infostealer activity feeding the ransomware supply chain. Implement multi factor authentication MFA on all remote access and educate users not to reuse passwords. Simple credential theft shouldn’t give hackers the keys to the kingdom.
• Phishing & Malicious Emails 18%: Old fashioned phishing is still a serious threat. Around 18- 19% of ransomware attacks in 2025 were triggered through phishing emails or other social engineering. Attackers trick an employee into clicking a malicious link or opening an attachment, often a weaponized Office document or archive that executes malware. In some cases phishing directly deploys the ransomware, in others it delivers an initial foothold like a backdoor or Cobalt Strike beacon which the attackers then use to escalate privileges. Notably, phishing was slightly less dominant than in 2024, when it accounted for 25% of attacks. One reason is that many ransomware groups shifted to exploiting vulnerabilities or using stolen logins as noted above. However, phishing remains a persistent entry point, especially as phishing kits get more sophisticated. Attackers now leverage AI to craft convincing, grammatically perfect lures targeted to specific roles or regions e.g. a phishing email in flawless Japanese something that used to be a rarity. Keep up security awareness training and robust email filtering. Phishing may be an older attack vector, but phishing attack trends and statistics show it’s not going away in fact, phishing campaigns are reaching new levels of polish and deception.
• Remote Services & Helpdesk Exploitation: A big trend in 2025 was attacks through remote access tools and social engineering blends. Coveware observed that almost 50% of ransomware attacks in Q3 2025 stemmed from remote access compromise, which often overlaps with stolen credentials and phishing. For example, attackers impersonating IT support might persuade an employee to install remote control software or approve an MFA prompt blurring the line between hacking and conning someone. One notable case the Medusa ransomware group attempted to recruit an insider, offering to pay a company employee 15% of any ransom if they would secretly install malware on their employer’s network. While such insider assisted attacks are rarer, they illustrate how threat actors will try any route in. The convergence of techniques phishing someone to get remote access credentials, etc. means organizations need a layered defense covering both technical and human factors.

In summary, unpatched software, weak or stolen logins, and phishing are the big three entry vectors for ransomware in 2025. Together, those account for the majority of incidents. The implication is clear focusing on basic cyber hygiene, timely patching, strong authentication, user training can stomp out a large chunk of ransomware risk. Attackers generally don’t use ultra sophisticated zero days when simpler paths are open. They’ll take the easiest door into your network. Closing those doors can force them to move on to an easier target.

Data Theft & Double Extortion: Ransomware’s New Normal

In 2025, ransomware attacks almost always involve data theft. This is the era of double extortion. Simply encrypting files is often not enough leverage for criminals, because so many victims can recover from backups. So attackers steal confidential data and threaten to publish it, doubling the pressure on victims to pay. Here’s what the stats say about this trend:

• Data Exfiltration in 3 out of 4 Attacks: According to Coveware, a ransomware incident response firm, 76% of all ransomware attacks in Q3 2025 involved data theft prior to encryption. Similarly, Sophos research found that 50% of ransomware attacks in 2025 resulted in data being encrypted down from 70% the year before, implying that in about half of cases the attackers might skip encryption or it was thwarted. Essentially, data theft has become as core to ransomware as encryption used to be. Criminals comb through victim networks to steal customer databases, intellectual property, financial records, and any sensitive files they can grab. They often upload gigabytes even terabytes of data to cloud storage or via FTP before unleashing the ransom note.
• Encryption Less Attacks Rising: Some newer ransomware groups have experimented with extortion only attacks where they steal data and don’t encrypt anything, relying purely on blackmail. These attacks are faster, no need to deploy malware enterprise wide and stealthier they may not trigger antivirus alerts if no ransomware binary runs. In 2025, about 6% of ransomware incidents involved extortion without encryption, double the percentage from 2024. While still a small portion, this tactic is growing. For example, the group Basalt hypothetical name might quietly exfiltrate a company’s entire file server and then demand a ransom just to not leak it publicly. The victim’s operations aren’t disrupted, but their data is effectively stolen. The downside for criminals is, as noted earlier, victims are even less likely to pay in these cases only 19% did in Q3 2025 because once data is stolen, paying doesn’t guarantee it won’t be sold or leaked anyway.
• Double and Triple Extortion: Many groups go beyond just threatening a data leak. Double extortion : encryption + data leak threat, is standard now. But there’s also triple extortion where attackers add a third pressure point for instance, contacting the victim’s customers or partners and informing them their data is at risk, or launching a DDoS attack on the victim’s website until payment. In 2025 we saw some ransom notes include threats like If you don’t pay, we will not only leak your data, but also notify all your clients of the breach and hit your public site with attacks. It’s the ransomware equivalent of twisting the knife.
• Faster Stealthier Attacks: The emphasis on data exfiltration has made ransomware attacks faster. Some groups can breach a network and start exfiltrating data within minutes of entry. There are reports of attackers achieving their objectives data theft and deployment of ransom note in under 24 hours from initial breach in 2025. This smash and grab approach leaves defenders a very narrow window to detect and stop an attack before the damage is done. It also means organizations need tools that can catch suspicious data transfers like an employee PC suddenly sending 100 GB to a foreign server at 2 AM.

Data confidentiality is now front and center in ransomware. Even if you have bulletproof backups and can restore your systems, the threat actors still have your sensitive data as leverage. This has implications for regulatory compliance you likely have to treat a ransomware incident as a data breach and notify affected parties and for incident response strategy. It’s not enough to focus on blocking file encryption, you also need to monitor for data exfiltration. Investing in Data Loss Prevention DLP solutions, network anomaly detection to spot large unusual data exports, and zero trust architecture to limit lateral movement and data access can help mitigate this risk. Also, consider the worst case scenario in your crisis plans how will you respond if your internal company data or client data is leaked on the dark web? Many organizations have decided that paying to prevent a leak is a bad bet since there’s no guarantee the criminals won’t leak or sell the data anyway. Indeed, the 2025 stats validate this skepticism. Thus, companies are focusing on containment and post breach harm reduction like quickly invalidating stolen credentials, informing customers rather than paying off criminals. It’s a tough situation, but transparency and resiliency are proving more effective than ransom payments in the long run.

The Ransomware as a Service Ecosystem Who Are the Attackers?

The ransomware threat isn’t just a bunch of lone wolves it’s an ecosystem. 2025 continued the trend of ransomware being dominated by Ransomware as a Service RaaS groups and affiliate programs. Let’s break down the attacker landscape:

• Fragmentation 100+ Active Ransomware Groups. The ransomware underworld has fragmented since the days when one or two big gangs like REvil or DarkSide dominated headlines. By late 2025, threat intelligence sources tracked over 100 distinct ransomware groups operating. These range from large, organized criminal cartels to small regional crews. Law enforcement takedowns in 2024 e.g. the FBI disruption of Hive and the international operation against Conti/LockBit infrastructure caused some of the big names to splinter. In their place, many new groups emerged. However, not all groups are equal…
• A Few Big Players Still Cause Outsized Damage. Despite the fragmentation, a handful of top tier gangs account for a large chunk of attacks. According to KELA Cyber Intelligence, just five groups Qilin aka Agenda, Clop, Akira, Play, and SafePay were responsible for 25% of all ransomware incidents in 2025. Similarly, Coveware’s data for Q3 2025 showed Akira alone was behind 34% of cases and Qilin about 10% among their investigated incidents. These groups run prolific RaaS operations
  • Akira Known for targeting mid sized businesses, often via stolen VPN credentials especially Cisco VPNs without MFA. Akira attacks grew rapidly in 2025, focusing on volume. They hit schools, manufacturing firms, and municipalities alike. Their affiliate model attracted many lesser skilled hackers, which may explain their high share of incidents.
  • Qilin Agenda A technically advanced RaaS that uses Rust based malware capable of encrypting both Windows and Linux/ESXi systems. Qilin focused on big game targets and even supply chain attacks. In one campaign, Qilin breached a managed IT service provider and from there infected over 20 downstream client organizations simultaneously a nasty one to many attack. By Q3 2025, Qilin was among the top groups about 10% of cases and was singled out by experts for its aggressive tactics.
  • Clop An established group infamous for exploiting zero day vulnerabilities in file transfer software e.g. GoAnywhere, MOVEit to steal data en masse. Clop had a comparatively quieter 2025 after some members were arrested, but still managed major data extortion hits notably in finance and government sectors.
  • LockBit Worth mentioning LockBit has been one of the most prolific groups historically responsible for 600+ attacks in 2024 by some counts. In early 2024 they faced disruption, but they came back in late 2025 with a new LockBit 5.0 variant, trying to reassert dominance. While they weren’t top 5 in some 2025 stats perhaps due to a temporary lull, LockBit remains a serious threat actor with a large affiliate network.
  • Emerging Groups We also saw smaller newcomers like RansomHub, BlackCat ALPHV continuing from 2022/2023, Medusa, Royal, Rhysida, etc. Each has its niche. For instance, BlackCat is known for highly sophisticated attacks in both Windows and Linux environments, and RansomHub aggressively recruited affiliates after some big competitors faltered.
• Ransomware as a Service RaaS: Most of these groups operate on a RaaS model meaning the developers of the ransomware provide their malware and leak site platform to affiliates other hackers in exchange for a cut often 20-30% of each ransom. This model greatly expands their reach. It also means that if one RaaS shuts down, affiliates can migrate to another. We saw this when the notorious REvil group went offline, many of its affiliates simply moved to LockBit or formed new gangs. In 2025, affiliate crossover was common a hacker might carry out attacks for LockBit one month and for Akira the next, depending on payouts and pressure. This fluid ecosystem makes it hard to eliminate ransomware through arrests, there’s always someone waiting to fill the void.
• Professionalization vs Independence: The ransomware scene has elements of professionalization playbooks, customer support for victims, even help desks to facilitate payments, but also more chaos with many small players. Interestingly, in regions like Asia Pacific, as many as 80% of ransomware attacks were attributed to smaller, independent groups rather than the big global names. These boutique operations might only do a few attacks and then disappear, which complicates attribution and defense. On the flip side, the big RaaS operations are run like businesses they have branding, version updates, and even codes of conduct. For example, some claimed they wouldn’t attack hospitals, a claim that often falls by the wayside when money is tight.

Knowing the threat actors can help in defense and negotiation strategy. For example, if you’re hit by a known group like BlackCat, threat intel reports can tell you that group’s past behavior do they tend to honor payments? How do they typically breach networks? What decryptor issues have been seen? Additionally, the proliferation of groups means companies can’t just focus on blocking one known malware signature. Attackers may use custom code or subtle variants. It reinforces the need for a behavioral approach to detection EDR/XDR that can catch suspicious actions like credential dumping, lateral movement regardless of the specific malware strain. It also means threat intelligence and IoC sharing is vital if a new group emerges, everyone benefits from quickly learning their tactics. Finally, understanding that ransomware is a business helps drive home that this is not an if but a when problem if there’s profit to be made and your defenses are lacking, there’s likely an affiliate out there who will come knocking. Companies should assume that at least one of these many groups will target them eventually and prepare accordingly.

For an in depth look at major ransomware gangs and their tactics, see our spotlight on leading ransomware groups and the RaaS ecosystem.

Industries Most Targeted by Ransomware

Ransomware criminals don’t pick targets randomly, they focus on industries where an attack can cause maximum pain and thus entice a quick payout. In 2025, critical infrastructure and high value industries were in the crosshairs. Here’s how different sectors fared:

• Manufacturing: Ransomware’s Top Target. If you make or move physical goods, watch out manufacturing was the #1 most attacked industry in 2025. Attacks on manufacturers surged by 61% year over year, the sharpest increase of any sector. Why manufacturing? Because downtime on a production line hits hard. Many factories run on just in time production, a ransomware incident can stop an assembly line, causing losses that quickly escalate by the hour. In Q2 2025, manufacturing accounted for an estimated 65% of all industrial ransomware incidents globally. Everything from automotive plants to food processing facilities were hit. Notably, some attacks on manufacturing also had safety implications for example, if a chemical plant’s systems are locked up, it might force a shutdown of operations for safety reasons. Attackers know manufacturers face a dilemma pay the ransom to resume operations quickly, or endure a costly shutdown. This pressure makes them prime extortion targets. Many manufacturing firms have responded by segmenting networks and keeping manual workarounds, but the threat remains severe. Related Our industries most targeted by hackers analysis delves into why manufacturing and similar sectors are so frequently hit.
• Healthcare: High Impact and High Cost. Healthcare providers, hospitals, clinics, etc. continue to be heavily targeted, even though some ransomware gangs claim to avoid hospitals. In truth, over 60% of healthcare organizations in the U.S. were hit by ransomware in the past year. The healthcare sector has the highest average breach costs of any industry. An IBM study put the average cost of a healthcare data breach at $7.42 million globally and over $10 million in the U.S.. This is due to a combination of factors sensitive patient data that triggers fines and identity theft issues, life or death urgency to restore systems you can’t safely run a modern hospital without IT systems, and typically weaker security postures due to constrained budgets. In 2025, ransomware attacks on hospitals often caused disruptions to patient care. One survey found 72% of attacked healthcare orgs said care delivery was impacted, with some reporting increased patient complications or mortality as a result. This raises the stakes enormously. While most hospitals have robust data backups 97% were able to recover encrypted data, the process of restoration is complex and time consuming, often requiring system reinstallation and data integrity checks for electronic health record EHR systems. Sadly, ethical lines have all but vanished groups like Ryuk/Conti, ALPHV, and Qilin have all targeted hospitals and healthcare companies in 2025. The pressure to pay can be immense when patient safety is on the line. However, healthcare orgs are increasingly refusing ransoms too only 33% paid in 2025, down from 36% in 2024, instead relying on contingency plans and government support. The combination of high cost and moral implications make healthcare ransomware attacks particularly pernicious.
• Financial Services: Constantly Under Fire. Banks, insurance firms, and other financial institutions continued to face a barrage of ransomware and extortion in 2025. Approximately 65% of financial services organizations experienced a ransomware attack in 2024 slightly up from 2023. Financial firms are attractive for obvious reasons they have money and valuable customer data. They also often have cyber insurance and may be seen as more likely to pay to protect client information. Attackers targeting finance frequently use island hopping, penetrating smaller vendors or law firms to get into a bank and go after critical network nodes. One notable trend is attacks on core service providers for instance, in late 2025, a ransomware incident at a cloud services provider disrupted multiple credit unions’ operations simultaneously, a supply chain effect. Financial regulators are now extremely strict about breach disclosures and incident response, which has improved readiness in this sector. We saw fewer massive bank ransoms possibly due to strong security and regulatory deterrents, but plenty of smaller financial entities were hit.
• Government, Education, and Other Sectors: Government agencies and education schools, universities also remain common targets. In Q3 2025, professional services like law and consulting firms actually edged out other sectors as the top sector in Coveware’s data comprising 17.5% of attacks, with healthcare and software companies tied at 9-10%hipaajournal.comhipaajournal.com. This can fluctuate quarter by quarter. Broadly, critical infrastructure sectors manufacturing, energy, utilities, transportation, healthcare, finance, government made up about 50% of all ransomware attacks in 2025 underscoring that attackers are aiming where disruptions cause the greatest havoc. Even sectors like education saw a surge in 2025, school districts faced attacks that delayed the start of classes or downed systems for weeks, often by opportunistic groups like Vice Society. Small businesses across all industries are also frequently victimized in fact, mid-sized and small companies up to 1,000 employees together accounted for 70% of ransomware victims in late 2024. Large enterprises have more budget for security, so criminals often find easier prey in smaller organizations even though the ransoms might be smaller, the volume of attacks can make up for it.

If your organization operates in one of these high target industries, assume you’re on the ransomware hit list. But even outside of them, no sector is truly safe attackers will go after any business if there’s a chance for a payout. The heightened focus on critical sectors also means governments are treating ransomware as a national security issue. We’ve seen initiatives like CISA’s Joint Ransomware Task Force and international cooperation to tackle gangs. However, from the attacker’s perspective, hitting critical industries often means bigger spotlight, but potentially bigger paydays. For instance, a ransomware attack on a large energy company in 2025 led to federal response coordination and fortunately no ransom was paid but it showed that threat actors aren’t afraid to go after targets that could have nation level impact.

See our healthcare data breach statistics and trends for more on how ransomware is affecting the healthcare sector specifically, and what can be done to mitigate patient safety risks.

How to Protect Against Ransomware in 2025

By now it’s clear that ransomware is a serious threat but it’s not insurmountable. Organizations that prioritize security and preparedness have fared much better when ransomware comes knocking. Here are concrete steps to strengthen your defenses against ransomware in 2025 and beyond:

1. Keep Systems Fully Patched Many ransomware attacks exploit known vulnerabilities in software. Patch management is your first line of defense. Update OS, VPN appliances, databases, and all software regularly, especially anything exposed to the internet. Enable auto updates where possible. If a critical vulnerability like those in VPNs or file servers is disclosed, treat it with utmost urgency. Quick patching could literally stop an attack, recall that 32% of incidents begin with an unpatched flaw. Use a vulnerability management tool to scan for missing patches, and have a process to fast track critical security updates even outside normal maintenance windows.
2. Lock Down Remote Access Use MFA Everywhere Stolen credentials are behind a huge chunk of ransomware breaches. Implement multi factor authentication MFA on all remote access points VPN, remote desktop RDP, email, cloud apps, etc. This alone thwarts most credential based attacks, because even if hackers buy your password online, they can’t get in without that second factor. Also, disable or tightly restrict legacy protocols like SMB and RDP from being exposed to the internet. Use secure VPNs or zero trust network access for remote workers. And of course, enforce strong passwords and password managers for employees to prevent easy guessing or reuse. MFA may not be perfect, but it will significantly raise the bar for attackers many will simply move on to an easier target without MFA.
3. Back Up Data and Test Your Backups Robust backups are your get out of jail card if ransomware strikes. Follow the 3 2 1 rule keep 3 copies of your critical data, on 2 different media, with at least 1 offsite/offline copy. Ensure backups include not just files, but also system images, configs, and anything needed to rebuild. Crucially, test restoring from backups regularly! A backup is useless if it’s corrupted or you don’t know how to restore under pressure. Many organizations hit by ransomware found their backups weren’t working. Don't let that be you. Also, protect backups from attackers use immutable storage or write once media, and secure backup admin credentials separately. In 2025, 97% of companies with encrypted data recovered it largely thanks to backups. Make backup strategy a top priority.
4. Monitor for Intrusions and Data Exfiltration Given how fast and stealthy ransomware attacks have become, early detection is vital. Deploy Endpoint Detection & Response EDR tools on your servers and PCs to catch suspicious behavior like mass file encryption, or tools like Mimikatz being run. Also use network monitoring to detect anomalies for instance, if a user machine suddenly starts uploading huge amounts of data at odd hours could indicate exfiltration in progress. Consider setting up honeypots or canary files fake files that trigger alerts if someone tries to access or modify them ransomware often touches all files it can. Segment your network so that if one part is breached, it’s harder for the attacker to reach everything e.g., accounting systems shouldn’t be on the same flat network as manufacturing controls. Enforce the principle of least privilege users should only have access to what they absolutely need, which limits what an attacker who steals one account can do. Finally, keep an eye on threat intelligence feeds for IoCs indicators of compromise related to ransomware campaigns targeting your industry, and make sure your security products are updated with those IoCs.
5. Train Employees & Harden Email Since phishing is still a common entry point 18% of cases, invest in regular security awareness training. Teach staff how to spot phishing emails, social engineering calls, and suspicious links. Conduct periodic phishing simulations to keep everyone on their toes. Additionally, lock down your email system enable spam filtering, attachment sandboxing, and MFA on email accounts. Many breaches start with one employee’s email getting hacked or one click on a bad link. Create an easy way for employees to report suspected phishing like a Report Phish button so your IT team can react. And make sure your team knows that it’s OK to slow down and verify requests e.g. if someone’s boss emails an urgent request to run an unknown program, double check via phone. A vigilant workforce and a robust email security gateway can stomp out a lot of opportunistic attacks before they escalate.
6. Prepare an Incident Response Plan and Practice It Time to plan for the worst. Have a detailed incident response IR plan specifically for ransomware scenarios. This should include who is on the response team with after hours contact info, steps to contain the spread e.g. network isolation procedures, communication plans internal updates, legal notifications, possibly law enforcement contacts, and cyber insurance if you have a policy. Decide ahead of time how you’ll handle a ransom demand, will you categorically refuse, is there a decision team, do you involve outside consultants? It’s also smart to line up a trusted incident response firm on retainer, so you aren’t scrambling to hire help during an attack. Once the plan is in place, conduct drills or tabletop exercises at least annually. Walk through a mock ransomware attack what if our file server gets encrypted at 10 AM on a Tuesday who does what? Testing your plan will reveal gaps and build muscle memory. The organizations that recovered quickest in 2025 were those that had practiced their response. Also, ensure you can reach your plan and contacts offline an encrypted USB or a binder, since ransomware might knock out access to digital copies.
7. Test Your Defenses with Pentesting Don’t wait for real attackers to find your weaknesses. Regularly test your own systems through penetration testing and vulnerability assessments. A skilled pentest team can identify the same kind of flaws unpatched servers, weak creds, misconfigurations that ransomware actors might exploit and then you can fix them proactively. Many companies are adopting Continuous Penetration Testing to get more frequent, iterative testing instead of one and done annual tests. By simulating a ransomware attacker’s tactics like trying to move laterally and find crown jewel data, pentesters can highlight where your detection and response might fail. This experience is invaluable. It’s far better to have a friendly pentester set off your alarms or slip by them than a real criminal. Plus, it helps build the case for security investment by demonstrating vulnerabilities. In short, let experts hack you before the bad guys do you’ll come out much stronger. Our team offers Penetration Testing as a Service PTaaS engagements that can continuously probe your environment for weaknesses.
8. Build Resilience and Zero Trust Ransomware is as much about resiliency as prevention. Embrace a zero trust model where possible assume any user or device could be compromised and verify continuously. Limit broad admin privileges consider using just in time admin access that expires. Implement strong endpoint hardening, disable unused services, restrict macros or script execution via policies, etc.. Keep your antivirus/EDR updated, but don’t solely rely on signature based AV modern ransomware often morphs or uses living off the land techniques that AV might miss. Enable OS features like Controlled Folder Access on Windows which can block untrusted processes from altering files. And of course, keep an eye on the human factor address any gaps like understaffed security teams or lack of training, as those can lead to mistakes that ransomware exploits. According to Sophos, about 40% of victims cited lack of cyber expertise or unknown security gaps as contributing factors in their breach. Closing those gaps is key to making your organization a less appealing target.

By following these steps, you dramatically improve your odds of either avoiding a ransomware incident entirely or weathering the storm with minimal damage. Remember, it’s not about achieving 100% impenetrability there’s no such thing, it’s about making your environment hard enough to breach and resilient enough to recover that attackers give up or that an incident doesn’t cripple your business. In the cat and mouse game of cybersecurity, preparation and practice are your best weapons.

For more detailed best practices, see our guides on specific topics like OAuth security best practices to secure web apps, common network vulnerabilities to fix.

FAQs

• What are the latest global ransomware statistics for 2025?

Ransomware reached record levels in 2025. In the first three quarters of 2025, there were about 4,701 ransomware attacks globally, a 34% increase over the same period in 2024. Approximately 50% of those attacks struck critical industries like manufacturing, healthcare, energy, finance, and transportation. The United States was the hardest hit country roughly 1,000 attacks, or 21% of the global total. Despite the surge in attack frequency, fewer victims are paying ransoms than ever only about 23- 37% of victims paid in 2025, down from 50% in 2024. This led to lower median ransom amounts $1M in 2025 vs $2M prior. On the positive side, 97% of organizations were able to recover their data mostly via backups and 53% restored operations within one week of the attack, reflecting improved defenses. In short, 2025 saw more attacks but less profit per attack for ransomware gangs.

• Which industries are most targeted by ransomware in 2025?

Manufacturing is the top targeted industry in 2025. Ransomware attacks on manufacturing jumped 61% year over year more than any other sector making it ransomware’s favorite target. Manufacturers are hit because downtime is extremely costly. Attackers bet they’ll pay to resume production. Professional and business services e.g. law firms, consultancies also see heavy targeting, often because they hold valuable data from multiple clients. Critical infrastructure sectors collectively make up about half of ransomware incidents. This includes healthcare, which suffered roughly 8- 10% of attacks and often incurs the highest breach costs, as well as financial services, energy, transportation, and government. For example, in Q3 2025, professional services accounted for 17.5% of cases, while healthcare was 9%. Education schools and universities is another frequent victim, as are state/local governments. It’s worth noting that smaller businesses are attacked often too mid mid-sized companies 100- 1,000 employees comprised about 41% of victims in late 2024. Essentially, no industry is immune, but manufacturing, critical infrastructure, and data heavy sectors are at the greatest risk.

• How have ransomware payment trends changed in 2025?

Ransomware payment trends have shifted dramatically toward fewer and smaller payments. In 2025, the majority of victims refused to pay ransom. Only an estimated 23- 37% of organizations hit by ransomware ended up paying a steep drop from 56% in 2024. Consequently, attackers lowered their pricing. The median ransom demand in 2025 was about $1.3 million, down roughly 34% from the 2024 median of $2M. The median ransom payment what victims actually paid was around $1.0 million, which is half of the $2M median payment the year before. In addition, more victims that do pay are negotiating better deals 53% negotiated a lower ransom than initially demanded. So, ransoms are not only rarer, they’re also smaller on average. Cyber insurance and law enforcement pressure have influenced this trend as well, with many companies unwilling or even contractually forbidden to pay unless absolutely necessary. Overall, 2025 is seeing the lowest ransom payment rates on record, indicating a positive shift in resilience though it also makes some ransomware gangs more desperate, leading them to attempt even more attacks or harsher tactics.

• What is the average cost of a ransomware attack in 2025?

The average total cost of a ransomware attack in 2025 is estimated around $5- 6 million when you factor in all consequences. Breaking that down the average cost to recover and remediate IT recovery, incident response, etc., excluding the ransom itself is about $1.53 million in 2025, improved from $2.73M in 2024. If a ransom is paid, that adds on median $1M in 2025. But the big costs often come from downtime companies can lose millions per day when operations are halted and post breach fallout. Data breaches resulting from ransomware lead to notification costs, legal fees, and regulatory fines. The global average data breach cost is $4.45M, and it’s higher in sectors like healthcare $7M+. For U.S. companies, breaches average over $10M. So a typical ransomware incident easily ends up costing several million dollars in total, even if the ransom demand was only, say, $500K. It varies by company size and industry e.g., a ransomware attack on a large hospital system can incur tens of millions in losses. The bottom line is that the indirect costs lost business, reputational damage, system rebuilds usually far exceed any ransom itself. That’s why investing in prevention is so critical spending a fraction of that cost on security upfront can avert the much bigger hit of a successful attack.

• Are ransomware attacks increasing or decreasing in 2025?

Increasing. All signs point to ransomware attacks continuing to increase in 2025 in terms of frequency. We saw a significant rise in the number of attacks compared to 2024. Through mid 2025, reports showed monthly ransomware incident counts at roughly double the rate of the previous year. By Q3 2025, leak site postings indicated a 25% year over year increase in victims for that quarter. So the volume of attacks is up. However, it’s worth noting that while attempts and incidents are increasing, the success payout rate per attack is decreasing fewer victims pay ransoms now. Some industry data like IBM’s X Force observed a decline in the proportion of incidents involving ransomware malware, possibly because attackers are focusing on pure data theft too. But when looking at public victim numbers and reports from threat intel firms, the consensus is ransomware activity is at an all time high in 2025. So, we’re seeing more attacks, not fewer. The hope is that improved defenses will eventually make ransomware unprofitable, but as of 2025, the trend is still upwards globally.

• How can businesses protect themselves from ransomware?

To protect against ransomware, businesses should implement a multi layered strategy

• Keep software up to date: Promptly install security patches on all systems, especially for VPNs, servers, and critical apps since outdated software is a top attack vector.
• Use strong authentication: Enable multi factor authentication on all accounts and remote access services to stop hackers with stolen passwords.
• Educate employees: Train staff to recognize phishing emails and suspicious links, since phishing is a common entry point. Regular security awareness training and phishing tests help build user vigilance.
• Maintain reliable backups: Back up important data offline and test your backups regularly. In a ransomware event, having recent backups that attackers can’t reach is the fastest way to recover without paying. Over half of organizations rely on backups to restore encrypted data.
• Segment and secure your network: Don’t flat network your entire IT environment. Use network segmentation so that if one part is compromised, ransomware can’t easily spread everywhere. Apply least privilege access controls for accounts.
• Deploy advanced security tools: Endpoint Detection & Response EDR and up to date anti malware can detect ransomware behavior and stop it early. Network monitoring can alert you to unusual data exfiltration. Consider disabling or restricting scripting and macros on endpoints to prevent ransomware from executing.
• Have an incident response plan: Prepare a detailed plan for how to isolate infected machines, who to call cyber insurers, law enforcement, incident responders, and how to communicate during a ransomware emergency. Conduct drills so your team isn’t scrambling for the first time during a real attack.
• Leverage security testing: Regularly assess your defenses with penetration testing services or red team exercises. These simulated attacks will uncover vulnerabilities in your systems before real attackers do, allowing you to fix weaknesses proactively. As the saying goes, get hacked on your terms, not the attacker's. It's far better to learn from a controlled test than a criminal breach.

By following these best practices patching, access control, user training, backups, network hygiene, planning, and testing businesses can drastically lower their ransomware risk. It’s about being prepared on multiple fronts, so that even if one layer fails, others will catch the threat. For a more comprehensive checklist, see our resources on vulnerability assessment vs penetration testing and patch management strategies to keep systems secure.

Ready to Strengthen Your Defenses?

The threats of 2025 demand more than just awareness, they require readiness. If you’re looking to validate your security posture, identify hidden risks, or build a resilient defense strategy, DeepStrike is here to help. Our team of practitioners provides clear, actionable guidance to protect your business.

Explore our Penetration Testing Services to see how we can uncover vulnerabilities before attackers do. Drop us a line, we’re always ready to dive in.

About the Author

Mohammed Khalil is a Cybersecurity Architect at DeepStrike, specializing in advanced penetration testing and offensive security operations. With certifications including CISSP, OSCP, and OSWE, he has led numerous red team engagements for Fortune 500 companies, focusing on cloud security, application vulnerabilities, and adversary emulation. His work involves dissecting complex attack chains and developing resilient defense strategies for clients in the finance, healthcare, and technology sectors.

Sources:

1. Coveware / HIPAA Journal Q3 2025 ransom payment rate 23% and data theft prevalence
2. BrightDefense / Sophos Median ransom demand $1.324M, payment $1.0M in 2025 50% drop
3. KELA / PRNewswire 4,701 global attacks Jan- Sep 2025 +34% YoY, 50% on critical sectors, US 21%, manufacturing +61%
4. Sophos State of Ransomware 2025 Initial access causes: 32% vulns, 23% creds, 18% phishing, 97% data recovery, 53% one week recovery, average recovery cost $1.53M down from $2.73M
5. IBM Cost of a Data Breach 2025 Healthcare breach avg $7.42M, US breach avg $10.22M
6. Coveware Q3 2025 top groups: Akira 34%, Qilin 10%, shift to high volume, lower rewards attacks
7. Proofpoint/Ponemon via HIPAA Journal 69% to 72% of healthcare orgs had cyberattacks impact patient care, average healthcare cyberattack cost $3.9M, 33% healthcare victims paid ransom down from 36%
8. BrightDefense / Group IB 2024 regional stats: NA 3,259 attacks, Europe 1,136, APAC 467, manufacturing 660, healthcare 443 incidents
9. Check Point Research 520- 540 ransomware victims/month in mid 2025 double early 2024 rate, Q3 2025 had 1,592 extortion site victims vs 1,270 Q3 2024
10. Veeam Report / SecurityWeek Ransom payment rates plummeting, backup efficacy high context on improved resilience.