The State of Ransomware 2026: Payments are dropping but encryption is climbing
The State of Ransomware 2026: Payments are dropping but encryption is climbing Insights from 2,158 IT and cybersecurity leaders across 17 countries whose organizations were hit by ransomware in the past year. This year's data has a few eyebrow-raising departures from the patterns of past State of Ransomware reports. Exploited vulnerabilities lost their three-year grip on the top root-cause spot. Median ransom demands and payments both dropped, yet the average recovery bill still climbed.