Searchlight Cyber Report Estimates Ransomware Attacks Cost $5.08 Million on Average
Summary
Searchlight Cyber’s 2026 article cites estimates of $74 billion in global ransomware losses and $5.08 million per affected organization, highlighting downtime, recovery, and other costs while recommending preemptive defenses.
Key points
- The article cites a projection of $74 billion in global ransomware damage costs in 2026, up 30% from $57 billion in 2025.
- It reports an average total ransomware breach cost of $5.08 million, with a US average of $10.22 million.
- Ransom payments account for about 15% of total attack costs; downtime, recovery, investigation, legal expenses, and lost business contribute substantially.
- Organizations experience an average of 24 days of downtime after an attack, according to the article.
- The article describes data exfiltration before encryption as a common double-extortion tactic, meaning backups do not resolve data theft or related breach consequences.
- Recommended defenses include attack-surface management, dark-web monitoring for compromised credentials, threat intelligence, and rapid remediation.
Article Details
- Publisher
- Searchlight Cyber
- Report Period
- 2026
- Scope
- Estimated global and organizational costs of ransomware attacks and recommended preemptive defenses.
- Key Statistics
- Global ransomware damage costs are projected to reach $74 billion in 2026, up 30% from $57 billion in 2025; the projection is attributed to Cybersecurity Ventures.
- The average total cost of a ransomware breach is reported as $5.08 million; the article attributes this figure to IBM.
- Average downtime following a ransomware attack is reported as 24 days.
- Ransom payments are reported to account for an average of 15% of total attack cost.
- US ransomware breach costs are reported to average $10.22 million.
- Recommendations
- Continuously identify and manage internet-facing assets, including shadow IT, forgotten subdomains, and legacy test environments.
- Monitor the dark web for compromised organizational credentials and remediate exposed access.
- Use threat intelligence on ransomware group behavior to prioritize patching and remediation of vulnerabilities they target.
- Rapidly remediate exposed vulnerabilities based on real-world threat activity.
People
Vendors
Industries
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