Have you ever heard of a situation where a cyber attacker withholds or threatens to destroy an individual or organization’s critical data unless they pay up? That’s a classic ransomware attack; it’s basically virtual kidnapping. During a ransomware attack, your data is ‘kidnapped’ until you pay the ‘kidnapper’ a ‘ransom’ to release it.
Unfortunately, ransomware attacks are widespread and on the rise daily, with more people depending on the Internet for their daily activities.
By 2031, ransomware attacks are expected to occur every two seconds, putting every Internet user at risk. While there are fundamental security precautions you can take, getting to know ransomware statistics can inform you of practical ways to protect your cyber data. Hence, this article will list more than 85 critical ransomware statistics worldwide.
Quick list of top 10 ransomware statistics
- Ransomware victims paid attackers $449.1 million in the first six months of this year.
- The total cost of ransomware attacks in 2023 could hit $898.6 million.
- Ransomware attackers extorted about $939.9 million from victims in 2021, making it the biggest year for ransomware revenue.
- As of August 2023, over 72 percent of businesses globally were affected by ransomware attacks.
- From 2018-2023, more than half of businesses worldwide suffered ransomware attacks yearly.
- In the first half of 2023, ransomware attacks accounted for almost a quarter of cyberattacks, with 24% amounting to millions.
- In 2023, the average ransomware attack reached $5.13 million, indicating a 13% increase from the 2022 figure.
- On average, it takes about a year to detect and contain a ransomware attack.
- One ransomware group, LockBit, is responsible for almost half (45%) of the total ransomware attacks in the first half of 2023.
- The percentage of ransomware attacks resulting in the victim paying slumped to a record low of 34% in the second quarter of 2023.