This week in cybersecurity from the editors at Cybercrime Magazine
Sausalito, Calif. – Jun. 3, 2026
– Read the full story from Bright Defense
Ransomware has existed for more than 35 years and remains the fastest-growing category of cybercrime, showing no signs of slowing down, according to Cybersecurity Ventures, who predicts that the global cost of ransomware will reach $275 billion annually by 2031, highlighting the escalating financial toll of this long-running cyber threat.
The total estimated damage costs include not only ransom payments and negotiation expenses, but also the damage or destruction of data, theft of money, operational downtime, and lost productivity.
Los Angeles-based cybersecurity company Bright Defense has updated its list of 500 ransomware statistics for 2026, containing data from trusted industry leaders. The list culls through ransomware facts, predictions and statistics from 2024 to present, and the sources are mainly cybersecurity vendors.
One figure that jumped out to the editors at Cybercrime Magazine: 29 percent of ransom-paying organizations in 2025 paid exactly the amount first demanded, and 18 percent of ransom-paying organizations in 2025 ended up paying more than the original demand, according to the Sophos State of Ransomware 2025.
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