Verizon's latest report shows 69% of ransomware demands go unpaid, up from 65% last year. When attackers don't get paid, they lose the money to fund more attacks. Organizations that refuse to pay and strengthen their defenses can help make ransomware less profitable for criminals.
There's good cybersecurity news for 2026. The latest data out of Verizon DBIR report is 69% of ransoms are not being paid, and that's up from 65% last year. Now, this is really important because whenever criminals are paid, they're given more resources. They're encouraged financially to do it again. And this just hurts more people down the line, and it becomes a snowball effect. So as we're seeing more and more victims not pay, that begins to strangle the extortionists. And they aren't going to go quietly. They are going to try and compel with greater arguments and, and more flash to really get those victims to pay. But as long as we continue not paying, essentially it undermines the motivation of these attackers. If they know they're not going to get paid, they're not going to pursue that type of attack. They're going to go to some other type of attack where hopefully they will get paid. And those areas, those are areas we have a lot of security control and oversight, and we have an advantage versus these types of ransomware attacks. So good news going into 2026 and always be in a position where you can tell those ransomware cybercriminals to go pound sand that you're not going to pay. So, it takes pre-work. You gotta think about it. You gotta be ready. Make yourself prepared for that eventuality.
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