Ransomware Statistics
What is the average cost of
a ransomware attack?
Ransomware carries costs far beyond the ransom payment itself. Negotiation, incident response, legal fees, data recovery and brand damage all add up into multi-million-dollar losses for both small businesses and enterprises. The figures here illustrate why paying or refusing a ransom often leaves organisations in a lose-lose position.
Average total cost of a ransomware breach (2024)
Source: IBM - Cost of a Data Breach 2024
Cost range for small businesses impacted by a data breach
Source: IBM - Cost of a Data Breach 2024
Percentage of victims who paid any ransom (Q4 2024)
Source: Coveware Q4 2024 Report
Total breach cost for organizations that paid vs. refused to pay ransom
Source: IBM - Cost of a Data Breach 2024
Total breach cost with law enforcement involvement vs. without
Source: IBM - Cost of a Data Breach 2024
How do I respond to a ransomware attack?
Every incident response choice - automated playbooks, law enforcement support or internal effort - shapes both the containment timeline and total expense. Despite best practices, most organisations still see high costs whether they pay or not. These numbers highlight the limited upside of each approach and the need for a systematic strategy.
Percentage of ransomware incidents first detected by external parties
Source: Mandiant M-Trends 2025
Median containment time with automated playbooks vs. without
Source: IBM - Cost of a Data Breach 2024
Mean time to identify a breach in 2024 vs. 2023 (7-year low)
Source: IBM - Cost of a Data Breach 2024
Median "dwell time" for ransomware attacks (initial compromise to encryption)
Source: Sophos Active Adversary 2025
Average time to contain a breach (2024)
Source: IBM - Cost of a Data Breach 2024
Organizations that recovered operations within one week after ransomware attack
Source: Sophos State of Ransomware 2024
How often do ransomware attacks happen?
Advanced Ransomware Threat actors deploy a structured Ransomware Attack Killchain against targets worldwide, striking repeatedly and often in stealth. The statistics below expose how frequently organisations are breached and how detection gaps leave many victims unaware until it is too late.
Share of organizations worldwide hit by ransomware in the past year
Source: Sophos State of Ransomware 2024
Proportion of global ransomware attacks targeting U.S. organizations (2023)
Source: Cyberint 2024 Report
Percentage of all malware incidents in 2024 that were ransomware
Source: Verizon DBIR 2024
Share of financially motivated breaches in 2023 that involved ransomware
Source: Verizon DBIR 2024
Average number of organizations falling victim to ransomware each day in 2024
Source: Cyberint 2024 Report
Percentage of observed malware families in 2023 that were ransomware
Source: Mandiant M-Trends 2024
Count of published ransomware victims in 2024 (23% increase from 4,399 in 2023)
Source: Cyberint 2024 Report
What are the specifics of ransomware attacks?
Ransomware incidents unfold in phases - from initial compromise through data encryption and extortion demands - each orchestrated by threat actors operating like businesses. These metrics break down campaign durations, active group counts and the hidden risk that paying criminals only invites repeat attacks.
Unrestricted access to your data for the past three years
Source: IBM - Cost of a Data Breach
Total published ransomware attacks worldwide in 2024
Source: Cyberint 2024 Report
Average "active time" of a ransomware incident (2024)
Source: IBM - Cost of a Data Breach 2024
75% of paying victims remitted ransom within 48 hours (Q4 2024)
Source: Coveware Q4 2024 Report
Number of active ransomware gangs in 2024 (40% increase from 68 in 2023)
Source: Cyberint 2024 Report
Share of organizations that paid ransom and were attacked again (often by the same group)
Source: Halcyon Research 2024
Share of paying victims that did not fully recover their data
Source: Sophos State of Ransomware 2024
What are the latest ransomware trends?
As adversaries refine their playbooks for greater scale and profit, attack volumes rise even as ransom payment rates fall under mounting legal and regulatory pressure. The trends outlined here show where the ransomware ecosystem is headed and why building resilience is now mandatory.
Published ransomware attacks in Q4 2024 (highest quarterly volume on record)
Source: Coveware Q4 2024 Report
Victim ransom payment rate (Q4 2024), a historic low
Source: Coveware Q4 2024 Report
Year-over-year jump in ransomware: Latin America vs. North America (2024)
Source: SonicWall 2025 Threat Report
% of orgs with a formal recovery playbook
% of executives claiming cyber resilience measures vs. % of orgs with a formal recovery playbook
Source: PwC Digital Trust Insights 2024
Year-over-year drop in ransomware detections (2024 vs. 2023)
Source: Kaspersky Security Network
Share of attacked organizations vs. share that recovered within one week (2023 survey)
Source: Sophos State of Ransomware 2024
Projected annual ransomware costs by 2031 (attack every 2 seconds globally)
Source: Cybersecurity Ventures
another statistic.
Get a demo of the Halcyon Platform
With ransomware attacks and ransom payments seeing an upward trend in recent and coming years, it is wise to invest and upgrade your cybersecurity solutions as soon as possible. Get a demo of the Halcyon Platform and see how it is built with failure in mind, every step of the way.