Ransomware activity drops 43% in Q2 despite year‑on‑year rise

Disruption of major operators and seasonal effects contributed to the temporary downturn.
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Ransomware incidents fell sharply in Q2 2025, with public disclosures dropping 43% from Q1 (from 22.9 to 17.5 cases per day). However, attacks remain elevated compared to the same quarter last year, showing a 43% year‑on‑year increase. In total, 1,591 new victims appeared on leak sites, confirming ransomware is still a serious and growing threat.

This decline coincided with law enforcement disruption of major operations such as Alphv/BlackCat and LockBit, alongside seasonal lulls like Easter and Ramadan. Meanwhile, active ransomware groups surged to 71, up from 41 in Q2 2024, indicating a fragmented threat landscape populated by smaller actors.

North America continued to absorb over half of all attacks, with healthcare, industrial manufacturing, and business services among the most affected sectors. Although overall volume dipped, newer threat actors remain agile, and fragmentation may fuel more covert ransomware behaviour, not less.

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