In 2023, organizations all around the world detected 317.59 million ransomware attempts. Overall, this number decreased significantly between the third and fourth quarters of 2022, going from around 102 million to nearly 155 million cases, respectively. Ransomware attacks usually target organizations that collect large amounts of data and are critically important. In case of an attack, these organizations prefer paying the ransom to restore stolen data rather than to report the attack immediately. The incidents of data loss also damage companies’ reputation, which is one of the reasons why ransomware attacks are not reported. Most targeted industries and regions As a part of critical infrastructure, the manufacturing industry is usually targeted by ransomware attacks. In 2022, manufacturing organizations worldwide saw 437 such attacks. The food and beverage industry ranked second, with over 50 ransomware attacks. By the share of ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure, North America ranked first among other worldwide regions, followed by Europe. Healthcare and public health sector organizations filed the highest number of complaints to the U.S. law enforcement in 2022 about ransomware attacks. Ransomware as a service (RaaS) The Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) business model has existed for over a decade. The model involves hackers and affiliates. Hackers develop ransomware attack models and sell them to affiliates. The latter then use them independently to attack targets. According to the business model, the hacker who created the RaaS receives a service fee per collected ransom. In the first quarter of 2022, there were 31 Ransomware as a Service (RaaS) extortion groups worldwide, compared to the 19 such groups in the same quarter of 2021.

On average, ** percent of organizations worldwide were victims of a ransomware attack between January and February 2024, according to a survey conducted among cybersecurity leaders of worldwide organizations. France ranked first by the ransomware rate in companies, with ** percent reporting having encountered such an attack in the last 12 months. Companies in South Africa, Italy, and Austria followed, with up to ** percent of the organizations experiencing ransomware attacks.

These latest ransomware statistics show how much damage is caused by attacks and the emerging trends you need to be aware of.

Here are the most important ransomware statistics you need to know about the attacks, demands, payments and consequences that can occur.

While every industry is affected by ransomware attacks, the truth is that some industries are more susceptible than others. This is the full breakdown of the top 15 sectors most targeted by malware.

As of February 2023, the WannaCry ransomware attack launched in 2017 was the biggest attack by its impact. During this attack, cyber actors took over 250 thousand user accounts of Microsoft Windows. As a result of this attack, the company lost over four billion U.S. dollars. The latest of selected significant cyberattacks was the 2022 ransomware attack against Swisspost, in which 1.6 terabytes of data was stolen.

As of 2023, over 72 percent of businesses worldwide were affected by ransomware attacks. This figure represents an increase on the previous five years and was by far the highest figure reported. Overall, since 2018, more than half of the total survey respondents each year stated that their organizations had been victimized by ransomware. Most targeted industries
In 2023, the healthcare industry in the United States was once again most targeted by ransomware attacks. This industry also suffers most data breaches as a consequence of cyberattacks. The critical manufacturing industry ranked second by the number of ransomware attacks, followed by the government facilities industry. Ransomware in the manufacturing industry
The manufacturing industry, along with its subindustries, is constantly targeted by ransomware attacks, causing data loss, business disruptions, and reputational damage. Often, such cyberattacks are international and have a political intent. In 2023, compromised credentials were the leading cause of ransomware attacks in the manufacturing industry.

On average, 37% of organisations globally were victims of a ransomware attack between January and February 2021. The top 15 countries that were affected the most were...

In the last two quarters of 2022, global ransomware attacks increased by over ** percent, going from over *** million to nearly *** million cases. In recent years, the highest number of global ransomware attacks was registered in the second quarter of 2021, when organizations worldwide reported encountering ***** ransomware attacks.

In 2022, the number of ransomware attacks in the United States amounted to around ***** million, making it the most targeted country worldwide. The United Kingdom (UK) ranked second, with over ** million ransomware attacks, while Spain followed, encountering approximately ** million ransomware cases.

Different types of ransomware are more common than others and more likely to affect your cybersecurity. The top 5 most common types of ransomware strains are...

The following ransomware statistics detail which industries get attacked the most and which countries are most likely to be targeted.

According to a survey conducted in *************, more than ** percent of computer users in Japan neither knew the term nor the meaning of ransomware. Ransomware is a type of malware used to extort victims by blocking access to or threatening to publish their data.

Description

The datasets demonstrate the malware economy and the value chain published in our paper, Malware Finances and Operations: a Data-Driven Study of the Value Chain for Infections and Compromised Access, at the 12th International Workshop on Cyber Crime (IWCC 2023), part of the ARES Conference, published by the International Conference Proceedings Series of the ACM ICPS.

Using the well-documented scripts, it is straightforward to reproduce our findings. It takes an estimated 1 hour of human time and 3 hours of computing time to duplicate our key findings from MalwareInfectionSet; around one hour with VictimAccessSet; and minutes to replicate the price calculations using AccountAccessSet. See the included README.md files and Python scripts.

We choose to represent each victim by a single JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) data file. Data sources provide sets of victim JSON data files from which we've extracted the essential information and omitted Personally Identifiable Information (PII). We collected, curated, and modelled three datasets, which we publish under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

1. MalwareInfectionSet We discover (and, to the best of our knowledge, document scientifically for the first time) that malware networks appear to dump their data collections online. We collected these infostealer malware logs available for free. We utilise 245 malware log dumps from 2019 and 2020 originating from 14 malware networks. The dataset contains 1.8 million victim files, with a dataset size of 15 GB.

2. VictimAccessSet We demonstrate how Infostealer malware networks sell access to infected victims. Genesis Market focuses on user-friendliness and continuous supply of compromised data. Marketplace listings include everything necessary to gain access to the victim's online accounts, including passwords and usernames, but also detailed collection of information which provides a clone of the victim's browser session. Indeed, Genesis Market simplifies the import of compromised victim authentication data into a web browser session. We measure the prices on Genesis Market and how compromised device prices are determined. We crawled the website between April 2019 and May 2022, collecting the web pages offering the resources for sale. The dataset contains 0.5 million victim files, with a dataset size of 3.5 GB.

3. AccountAccessSet The Database marketplace operates inside the anonymous Tor network. Vendors offer their goods for sale, and customers can purchase them with Bitcoins. The marketplace sells online accounts, such as PayPal and Spotify, as well as private datasets, such as driver's licence photographs and tax forms. We then collect data from Database Market, where vendors sell online credentials, and investigate similarly. To build our dataset, we crawled the website between November 2021 and June 2022, collecting the web pages offering the credentials for sale. The dataset contains 33,896 victim files, with a dataset size of 400 MB.

Credits Authors

Billy Bob Brumley (Tampere University, Tampere, Finland)

Juha Nurmi (Tampere University, Tampere, Finland)

Mikko Niemelä (Cyber Intelligence House, Singapore)

Funding

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under project numbers 804476 (SCARE) and 952622 (SPIRS).

Alternative links to download: AccountAccessSet, MalwareInfectionSet, and VictimAccessSet.

Global Ransomware Protection Market size was worth around USD 20.3 Billion in 2022 and is predicted to grow to around USD 73.9 Billion by 2030 with a CAGR of 17.5%.

In 2023, the worldwide number of malware attacks reached 6.06 billion, an increase of 10 percent compared to the preceding year. In recent years, the highest number of malware attacks was detected in 2018, when 10.5 billion such attacks were reported across the globe. Malware attacks worldwide In 2022, worm malware was blocked over 205 million times. Another common malware type during that period, Emotet, primarily targeted the Asia-Pacific region. Overall, websites are the most common vector for malware attacks and recent industry data found that malware attacks were frequently received via exe files. Most targeted industries In 2022, the education sector was heavily targeted by malware, encountering 2,314 weekly attacks on average. Government and military organizations ranked second, followed by the healthcare units. Overall, in 2022, the education sector saw over five million malware attacks in the examined year.

The global data security market, valued at $28.88 billion in 2025, is experiencing robust growth, projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.78% from 2025 to 2033. This significant expansion is driven by several key factors. The increasing sophistication and frequency of cyberattacks targeting businesses and individuals necessitate robust security measures. The rising adoption of cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) expands the attack surface, further fueling demand for advanced data security solutions. Furthermore, stringent government regulations regarding data privacy, such as GDPR and CCPA, compel organizations to invest heavily in compliance-driven security infrastructure. Leading players like IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, and others are actively innovating and expanding their product portfolios to cater to this escalating demand, resulting in a highly competitive yet dynamic market landscape. The market's growth trajectory is further influenced by evolving threat landscapes. Advanced persistent threats (APTs), ransomware attacks, and data breaches are becoming increasingly complex and challenging to mitigate. This necessitates continuous investment in advanced security technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for threat detection and response. While the market faces restraints such as the high cost of implementation and the shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals, the overall growth prospects remain exceptionally positive, driven by the fundamental need to safeguard sensitive data in an increasingly interconnected world. Market segmentation, while not explicitly provided, likely includes solutions categorized by type (endpoint security, cloud security, network security, data loss prevention), deployment model (on-premise, cloud-based), and industry vertical (finance, healthcare, government). The forecast period of 2025-2033 indicates significant future market expansion based on current growth trends. Recent developments include: July 2022 - Trellix has achieved Amazon Web Services (AWS) Security Competency status in the Data security and protection category by developing a solution that identifies and responds to millions of malicious objects and URLs daily. This designation honors Trellix's extensive technical expertise and proven success in assisting customers in enhancing their security, especially in the cloud sector., June 2022 - Comforte AG, an enterprise data security provider, and M² Business Consulting GmbH have launched a new relationship to help large enterprises in the DACH region adapt to new and emerging IT more rapidly and securely. This partnership enables digital innovation in organizations looking to apply data analytics securely and adopt data privacy standards to protect crucial data, thus ensuring growth in the data security market.. Key drivers for this market are: Rise in Digitization Trends and Digital Data Production, Increase in Data Security Technologies. Potential restraints include: Rise in Digitization Trends and Digital Data Production, Increase in Data Security Technologies. Notable trends are: Data Security Technologies As the Greatest Asset.

The main goal of any ransomware attacker is to hold people to ransom by not releasing their data until they get paid. But is it actually a good idea to pay the ransom? Here’s what the ransomware statistics tell us about organisations that paid up.

In the third quarter of 2024, ** percent of data exfiltration-only (DXF) attacks encountered at organizations in the United States resulted in a ransom payment. This figure decreased compared to the previous year, with ** percent of the data exfiltration-only (DXF) attacks involving ransom payments in the third quarter of 2023.

The ransomware protection market is projected to reach USD 50.81 billion by 2033, expanding at a CAGR of 14.21% from 2025 to 2033. The rising prevalence of ransomware attacks, increasing adoption of cloud-based services and IoT devices, and growing awareness of data security have fueled market expansion. Organizations across various industries are actively adopting ransomware protection solutions to safeguard their critical data and systems from cyber threats. Key drivers influencing market growth include the increasing sophistication of ransomware attacks, the emergence of new ransomware variants, and stringent government regulations mandating data protection. Moreover, the proliferation of connected devices and the growing adoption of cloud computing create additional opportunities for ransomware attacks, driving demand for robust protection measures. The market is highly competitive, with established vendors such as Microsoft, Sophos, and McAfee dominating the landscape. However, emerging players are gaining traction by offering innovative and specialized ransomware protection solutions tailored to specific industry needs and requirements. Recent developments include: June 2022: Trend Micro unveiled Trend Micro One, a comprehensive security platform with unified cybersecurity. The platform offers continuous threat and lifecycle assessment, reaction, and threat mitigation., May 2022: In a project to create MITRE ATT&CK, a cyber-adversary behavior framework that reflects the many stages of an adversary's attack lifecycle and the platforms they are known to target, Microsoft, the Centre for Threat-Informed Defence, and other industry partners worked together. The project aims to support defenders who utilize the framework to concentrate on certain approaches regardless of the surroundings or attack situation.,

Standalone Anti-Ransomware Software

End-Point Security

Network Security

Secure Web Gateways

,

Managed

Consulting

Support & Management

,

BFSI

IT & Telecom

Healthcare

Education

Manufacturing

Retail

. Potential restraints include: Security And Data Privacy Concerns 26.