Ransomware attacks are not declining: 4 defenses for your business
NCC Group
Check Point
Black Kite
New research suggests ransomware attacks may not be declining as previously thought. A single campaign by the Cl0P group distorted earlier statistics, and after accounting for it, ransomware shows an underlying growth trend. Experts recommend VPNs, firewalls, patch cycles, and multi-factor authentication as key defenses.
New data from NCC Group and Check Point indicates ransomware attacks are not declining. Earlier reports showing a drop were skewed by a massive Cl0P campaign in Q1 2025 exploiting the Cleo file transfer platform, which inflated baseline numbers. Excluding Cl0P, Check Point found a 5.3% year-over-year increase from Q1 2025 to Q1 2026, and a 33% increase comparing June 2025 to June 2026. NCC Group recorded a 3% increase in Q2 2026 versus Q1 2026, with Qilin being the most active group. The first fully agentic AI ransomware attack was recently reported, and AI is being used to automate attacks. To defend against ransomware, cybersecurity experts recommend using VPNs with secure credentials, monitoring firewalls, maintaining patch cycles, and enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Сокращения
- RaaS = Ransomware as a Service — Программное обеспечение как услуга для вымогателей
- VPN = Virtual Private Network — Виртуальная частная сеть
- 2FA = Two-Factor Authentication — Двухфакторная аутентификация
- MFA = Multi-Factor Authentication — Многофакторная аутентификация
Source: ZDNet AI —
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