The median ransom demand for retail ransomware attacks doubled to $2 million in 2025 compared to 2024

The average cost of recovering from a ransomware attack in retail, excluding any ransom payment, dropped by 40% to $1.65 million in 2025, the lowest point in three years

99% of UK business leaders support limiting ransom payments for private organisations.

A third (33%) of UK business leaders believe that a ban would decrease the prevalence of ransomware attacks by reducing the incentive for attackers.

More than a third (34%) of UK business leaders who support a proposed ransom payment ban believe it would lead to increased government support and intervention to safeguard cyber resilience.

94% of UK business leaders support limiting ransom payments for public entities.

75% of UK business leaders who believe ransomware payments should be banned admit they would still pay a ransom if it were the only way to save their organisation, even if a ban was extended to the private sector and civil or criminal penalties applied.

In real-world situations within the private sector, if a ransom payment ban were to take hold, only 10% of UK business leaders said they would comply if they were attacked.

96% of surveyed UK business leaders from companies with revenues of £100 million+ believe that ransomware payments should be banned across both public and private sectors.

In real-world situations within the private sector, if a ransom payment ban were to take hold, 15% of UK business leaders said they would be neither likely nor unlikely to comply with such a ban.

Almost all UK respondents (98%) stated that cyber readiness and recovery will be a top spending priority.

Ransom payments declined by 35% in Q1 2025.