Ransomware Damage Estimated at $57 Billion, Far Exceeding Payments
Original report publisher: not verified. Report discovered via Awesome Annual Security Reports.
Summary
A 2026 ransomware statistics overview compiles estimates of rising attack volume and $57 billion in 2025 damages, alongside declining ransom payments. It examines costs, entry vectors, extortion trends, and law-enforcement impact.
Key points
- The article cites 7,000–7,500+ organizations publicly named on ransomware leak sites in 2025, about 58% more than in 2024; it notes that unreported incidents make the actual total higher.
- It estimates 2025 ransomware damages at about $57 billion and reports $813 million in 2024 ransom payments, down 35% from 2023. Its roughly 70-to-1 comparison uses figures from different years.
- The article reports ransomware in 44% of breaches in Verizon’s 2025 DBIR. Sophos data identifies exploited vulnerabilities (32%), compromised credentials (23%), and phishing (18%) as leading initial access vectors.
- Sophos data cited says 64% of ransomware victims refused to pay in 2025, while 97% of organizations with encrypted data recovered it through backups, decryption tools, or payment.
- CrowdStrike data cited says 79% of initial-access attacks were malware-free; the article also highlights the role of stolen credentials and legitimate remote-management tools.
- Travelers Insurance data cited says 87.6% of ransomware claims involved both encryption and data exfiltration or threatened publication.
- The article says law-enforcement involvement was associated with an average $990,000 lower breach cost, based on IBM research.
Article Details
- Publisher
- BitsFromBytes Research
- Report Period
- Primarily 2025 data, compiled as of April 2026; published 2026-05-27
- Scope
- Ransomware activity, costs, attack vectors, threat groups, incidents, and law-enforcement disruption.
- Sample Size
- No single sample size for the compilation. The cited Sophos survey covered 5,000 IT/cybersecurity professionals across 14 countries.
- Key Statistics
- Tracking services identified over 7,000 ransomware victims on leak sites in 2025, with some reporting over 7,500; the article describes this as a roughly 58% increase from approximately 4,750 in 2024 and a floor rather than the total incident count.
- Verizon DBIR 2025 found ransomware in 44% of data breaches, up from 32% the prior year.
- The article compares approximately $813 million in ransomware payments in 2024 with estimated 2025 damages of approximately $57 billion, deriving a roughly 70:1 damage-to-payment ratio across different reporting periods and sources.
- Sophos reported exploited vulnerabilities as the initial access vector in 32% of ransomware cases in 2025.
- Verizon DBIR 2025 reported that 64% of ransomware victims refused to pay in 2025, compared with 59% in 2024.
- Recommendations
- Report ransomware incidents to CISA and FBI IC3 before making a payment decision, as recommended by the cited CISA guidance.
- Use NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 to map ransomware controls across Identify, Protect, Detect, Respond, and Recover.
Threat Actors
AkiraNamed by the FBI IC3 report among the ransomware variants with the greatest impact on critical infrastructure.BlackCatThe article identifies this group as responsible for the Change Healthcare ransomware event and says it was disrupted in December 2023 and March 2024.DragonForceThe article reports a 212.5% increase in its attack volume.InterlockIdentified as the group behind the April 2025 attack on DaVita.LockBitNamed among the leading ransomware variants. International law enforcement disrupted its infrastructure in February 2024, but the article says variants continued operating.MedusaNamed among the leading ransomware variants; the article reports that the group attacked NASCAR in April 2025 and stole data.Pay2KeyIdentified as the group behind the May 2025 attack on Marks & Spencer.QilinNamed among the leading ransomware variants; the article reports 81 attacks in June 2025 and describes it as the fastest-growing operation.RansomHubNamed as a leading ransomware operation; the article says ALPHV/BlackCat affiliates largely migrated to it after disruption of that group.
Countries
Industries
Education| Education | $3.80 million | High; 66% of K-12 districts have no cybersecurity staff |Energy**The critical infrastructure concentration:** Roughly half of all 2025 attacks targeted sectors underpinning modern economies — manufacturing, healthcare, energy, transportation, and financial services.Financial Services**The critical infrastructure concentration:** Roughly half of all 2025 attacks targeted sectors underpinning modern economies — manufacturing, healthcare, energy, transportation, and financial services.GovernmentManufacturing, healthcare, government, and financial services bear the highest attack volumes. Manufacturing saw a 61% year-over-year surge in 2025. Healthcare is the most expensive sector per incident at $7.42 millionHealthcare**The critical infrastructure concentration:** Roughly half of all 2025 attacks targeted sectors underpinning modern economies — manufacturing, healthcare, energy, transportation, and financial services.Manufacturing**The critical infrastructure concentration:** Roughly half of all 2025 attacks targeted sectors underpinning modern economies — manufacturing, healthcare, energy, transportation, and financial services.Transportation**The critical infrastructure concentration:** Roughly half of all 2025 attacks targeted sectors underpinning modern economies — manufacturing, healthcare, energy, transportation, and financial services.