Verizon found that 64% of ransomware victims did not pay the ransoms — which was up from 50% two years ago — and the median amount paid to ransomware groups has decreased to $115,000 (from $150,000 last year). One section of the report focusing on specific industries noted that ransomware “is a problem across all industries and is only getting worse” — explaining that financial firms, manufacturing and governments have all seen increases in targeting by ransomware groups. An examination of thousands of data breaches last year found that ransomware was involved in 44% of incidents, according to researchers at Verizon. Ransomware was featured prominently throughout the 117-page report — which found that generally most hackers are still abusing legitimate credentials or exploiting vulnerabilities to gain access to an organization’s most sensitive files. Verizon found that about 43% of ransomware victims in the government sector represent local governments in in locations such as the Southeast and Midwest. The telecom giant published its 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR) on Wednesday, featuring an analysis of over 22,000 security incidents and 12,195 confirmed data breaches. The number of large ransoms paid has also decreased, with Verizon finding that 95% of the ransoms paid coming in at less than $3 million in 2024. Small councils in Europe, Middle East and Africa also continue to face a deluge of ransomware attacks.
This Cyber News was published on therecord.media. Publication date: Thu, 24 Apr 2025 13:20:11 +0000