The first quarter of 2025 saw a record high in ransomware attacks, with 2,063 victims reported. This represents a 102% increase compared to the previous year.

Mid-sized companies generating $25-100M in revenue saw a 46% increase in ransomware attacks.

The vast majority of ransomware started with an attack on a remote access tool, contributing to 80% of attacks.

The blast radius of ransomware continues to grow as businesses impacted by attacks on vendors and partners increased 43%.

VPNs alone accounted for two-thirds (66%) of all ransomware attacks.

Ransomware gangs claimed responsibility for targeting 6,133 victims in 2024.

The average cost of third-party ransomware incidents jumped by 72% to $241K.

Ransomware payments dropped by 35% worldwide in 2024

There was also a record high number of active threat groups, with 70 identified in Q1 2025. This is a 55.5% year-over-year rise.

Ransomware gangs claimed responsibility for targeting 5,336 victims in 2023.

The frequency of ransomware attacks in 2024 increased by 19% vs. 2023.

There was a 75% increase in actively exploited flaws compared to the same period in 2024, with 12,333 vulnerabilities reported in Q1 alone .

Remote access tools like VPNs and RDP were correlated with 80% of ransomware attacks in 2024, up from 63% the year prior.

Close to 50 ransomware groups were implicated in attacks in 2024, a 3X increase from 2021.

45% of organizations experienced multiple ransomware attacks.

94% of IT decision-makers said that immutable backups are essential to achieving a comprehensive ransomware protection strategy.

Almost every organization (96%) that has experienced a ransomware attack in the past two years said that their backup data has been targeted at least once.

Two-thirds of organizations suffered a ransomware attack.

81% of IT professionals say immutable backup storage built on Zero Trust principles is the best defense against ransomware.

54% of IT professionals view target backup appliances as more secure than integrated appliances.