The average cost for companies to recover from a ransomware attack has doubled over the last year, according to a new report.
In Sophos’ State of Ransomware Report 2021, researchers found the average ransomware recovery costs for businesses have more than doubled in the past year, rising from $761,106 in 2020 to $1.85 million in 2021. These costs include the ransom, plus downtime, people time, device cost, network cost, lost opportunity, and other associated financial loss.
The average ransom paid was $170,404 in 2021. Of those surveyed, $3.2 million was the highest payment, and the most common payment was $10,000. The research found that 10 organizations paid ransoms of $1 million or more.
Only 8% of organizations surveyed around the world received all their data back after paying the ransom. On average, hackers restored only 65% of the encrypted data after receiving the ransom payment.
The number of organizations that paid the ransom increased from 26% in 2020 to 32% in 2021.
The survey polled 5,400 IT decision-makers at midsize organizations in 30 countries across Europe, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. The research found the US is a popular target among cyber criminals, as just over half (51%) of US respondents reported ransomware attacks last year. The US’ popularity among hackers is due to the perceived potential of higher ransom payments.
With more organizations able to stop attacks before hackers can encrypt the data, the percentage of successful encryptions fell from 73% to 54% in the past year. This drop indicates anti-ransomware technology adoption is paying off, researchers said.
RELATED RESOURCE
The business guide to ransomware
Everything you need to know to keep your company afloat
Chester Wisniewski, principal research scientist at Sophos, said the apparent decline in the number of organizations hit by ransomware is good news. Still, it is tempered by the fact that this is likely to reflect, at least in part, changes in attacker behaviors.
“We’ve seen attackers move from larger scale, generic, automated attacks to more targeted attacks that include human hands-on-keyboard hacking. While the overall number of attacks is lower, as a result, our experience shows that the potential for damage from these more advanced and complex targeted attacks is much higher. Such attacks are also harder to recover from, and we see this reflected in the survey in the doubling of overall remediation costs,” he said.
-
Bigger salaries, more burnout: Is the CISO role in crisis?In-depth CISOs are more stressed than ever before – but why is this and what can be done?
-
Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25News Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
-
‘Phishing kits are a force multiplier': Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25 – and experts warn it’s lowering the barrier of entry for amateur hackers
News Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
-
Healthcare systems are rife with exploits — and ransomware gangs have noticedNews Nearly nine-in-ten healthcare organizations have medical devices that are vulnerable to exploits, and ransomware groups are taking notice.
-
Alleged LockBit developer extradited to the USNews A Russian-Israeli man has been extradited to the US amid accusations of being a key LockBit ransomware developer.
-
February was the worst month on record for ransomware attacks – and one threat group had a field dayNews February 2025 was the worst month on record for the number of ransomware attacks, according to new research from Bitdefender.
-
CISA issues warning over Medusa ransomware after 300 victims from critical sectors impactedNews The Medusa ransomware as a Service operation compromised twice as many organizations at the start of 2025 compared to 2024
-
Warning issued over prolific 'Ghost' ransomware groupNews The Ghost ransomware group is known to act fast and exploit vulnerabilities in public-facing appliances
-
The Zservers takedown is another big win for law enforcementNews LockBit has been dealt another blow by law enforcement after Dutch police took 127 of its servers offline
-
There’s a new ransomware player on the scene: the ‘BlackLock’ group has become one of the most prolific operators in the cyber crime industry – and researchers warn it’s only going to get worse for potential victimsNews Security experts have warned the BlackLock group could become the most active ransomware operator in 2025
