Ransomware payments drop to record low, even as attacks surge

• Chainalysis finds ransomware incidents rose 50% in 2025, extortion totaled around $820m
• Payment rate dropped to 28%, down from 62.8% in 2024 and 78.9% in 2022
• Median ransom payment surged 368% to $59,556

Ransomware groups have never been this active, but have also never extorted this little money, new research has claimed.

Market analysts Chainalysis found the number of ransomware incidents in 2025 rose by 50% compared to the previous year, earning criminals $820 million - although this number may still rise as more incidents are attributed to ransomware attacks.

The increase in successful attacks should automatically translate to higher payments, but that didn’t happen - and in fact, Chainalysis says the number of payments remained relatively flat, which in absolute numbers means there were actually a lot fewer companies paying ransomware attackers.