How Many Ransomware Attacks Are There Per Day in 2023?

Ransomware is one of the fastest-growing malware threats worldwide. The attacker targets the victims’ data and system and demands a ransom payment.

The victims will be locked out of the system until they provide the requested ransom cost.

After the attacker received the ransom payment, victims regain access to their data and system. 

This type of malicious software has grown in popularity since it extorts a large amount of money while creating a low risk to attackers.

In the first six months of 2022, more than 236 million ransomware attempts were recorded around the world.

How Many Ransomware Attacks Are There Per Day in 2023?

Ransomware attacks continuously increase in total number annually.

In 2016, over 4,000 ransomware attacks were recorded per day, a 300% increase from the previous year.

A study revealed that businesses and organizations experienced attempts of ransomware attacks every 40 seconds.

In the first half of 2022, there were an estimated 1.2 million attempts of attacks.

And, by 2022, there were attacks every 11 seconds. This means there are 7855 attempted ransomware attacks per day.

Statista’s report shows that more than 623 million ransomware attacks were detected worldwide in 2021, up from 304.6 in the previous year.

The number of ransomware attacks between Q1 2020 and Q2 2022 peaked in Q2 and Q3 2021, ranging from 185 million to 188 million incidents.

Let’s take a look at the number of ransomware attacks worldwide per quarter:

• In Q1 2020, there were 59 million ransomware attacks worldwide
• In Q2 2020, there were 61 million ransomware attacks worldwide
• In Q3 2020, there were 78 million ransomware attacks worldwide
• In Q4 2020, there were 104 million ransomware attacks worldwide
• In Q1 2021, there were 115 million ransomware attacks worldwide
• In Q2 2021, there were 188 million ransomware attacks worldwide
• In Q3 2021, there were 185 million ransomware attacks worldwide
• In Q4 2021, there were 133 million ransomware attacks worldwide
• In Q1 2022, there were 129 million ransomware attacks worldwide
• In Q2 2022, there were 106 million ransomware attacks worldwide

Number of Ransomware Attacks Worldwide

The number of ransomware attacks worldwide in the first and second quarters of 2022 reached 236.1 million.

Based on the latest report, the volume of ransomware attack incidents around the world decreased since the third quarter of 2021.

However, the total volume of incidents per year consistently increases.

Here is the volume of ransomware attacks worldwide per year from 2016 to 2022:

• There were 236.1 million ransomware attacks worldwide in the first two quarters of 2022
• There were 623.3 million ransomware attacks worldwide in 2021
• There were 304.6 million ransomware attacks worldwide in 2020
• There were 187.9 million ransomware attacks worldwide in 2019
• There were 206.4 million ransomware attacks worldwide in 2018
• There were 183.6 million ransomware attacks worldwide in 2017
• There were 638 million ransomware attacks worldwide in 2016

Damage Cost of Ransomware to Businesses

The cost of ransomware is increasing dramatically since 2015. 67% of affected businesses, firms, and organizations reported a loss of at least $1 million from ransomware attacks. 33% were forced to stop operations temporarily in 2022. 

Here is a list of the damage cost of ransomware attacks to businesses worldwide from 2015 to 2021:

• In 2015, the damage cost of ransomware attacks to businesses worldwide was $325 million
• In 2017, the damage cost of ransomware attacks to businesses worldwide was $5 billion
• In 2018, the damage cost of ransomware attacks to businesses worldwide was $8 billion
• In 2019, the damage cost of ransomware attacks to businesses worldwide was $11.5 billion
• In 2021, the damage cost of ransomware attacks to businesses worldwide was $20 billion

Ransom Payments Per Year

Many businesses and organizations decided to pay the ransom demanded by the attackers to regain their access to their data and system.

In the first half of 2022, the average ransom payment worldwide was $200,000.

Let’s take a look at the average ransom payment worldwide from 2019 to 2022:

• The average ransom payment worldwide in 2019 reached $43,000
• The average ransom payment worldwide in 2020 reached $169,000
• The average ransom payment worldwide in 2021 reached $204,000
• The average ransom payment worldwide in 2022 reached $200,000

Leading Target of Ransomware Attacks

Ransomware targets businesses, government institutions, organizations, and home users.

It leads to financial losses, disruption of operations, loss of information and data, and harm to business reputation.

Below are the sectors that are mostly affected by ransomware attacks in 2021:

• 92% of ransomware attacks affect the legal sector in 2021
• 78% of ransomware attacks affect the manufacturing sector in 2021
• 78% of ransomware attacks affect the financial services sector in 2021
• 77% of ransomware attacks affect the human resources sector in 2021

The main targets of attackers are richer countries. In 2021, the leading target of ransomware attacks worldwide was the United States, recording 51% of incidents.

Here is a list of countries mainly targeted by ransomware in 2021:

• The United States recorded 51% of ransomware attack incidents
• The United Kingdom recorded 10% of ransomware attack incidents
• Canada recorded 5% of ransomware attack incidents
• France recorded 3% of ransomware attack incidents
• Australia recorded 3% of ransomware attack incidents
• Japan recorded 2.5% of ransomware attack incidents
• Brazil recorded 2% of ransomware attack incidents
• Germany recorded 2% of ransomware attack incidents
• The rest of the world recorded 21% of ransomware attack incidents

What Happened After Businesses Paid the Requested Ransom?

Some businesses and organizations attacked choose to pay the requested ransom, however, some victims refused to pay a large amount of ransom.

In 2021, 58% of the victims agreed to pay a ransom to the attackers.

Here is what happened after businesses and organizations paid the requested ransom:

• 54% of the victims who paid a ransom, regained access to their data after their first payment
• 32% of the victims who paid a ransom, regained access to their data after paying the additional demand
• 10% of the victims who paid the first ransom demand and refused to pay the additional demand did not recover their data
• 4% of the victims who paid a ransom did not recover their data

Conclusion

Ransomware attacks are becoming more popular. 80% of victims who paid a ransom were hit by ransomware for the second time.

That being the case, businesses and companies must have backups to recover their data without the need to pay a large amount of money.

According to the Sophos report, 73% of organizations with encrypted data recovered their data using their backups.

Sources