Ransomware attacks are hitting European enterprises at record pace

"Ransomware attacks are hitting Europe at a record rate, fueled by underground marketplaces commoditizing services like Malware as a Service, initial access brokerage, and phishing toolkits. Figures from CrowdStrike's 2025 European Threat Landscape Report show European organizations have accounted for nearly 22% of ransomware and extortion attacks across 2025 so far. This means European firms rank second only to North American counterparts, and are more than twice as likely to be targeted than organizations based in the APAC region."

"CrowdStrike noted that attackers are getting faster, with groups like Scattered Spider upping the speed of ransomware deployment by 48%, and the average attack now taking just 24 hours. Crucially, state-sponsored groups from Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran have expanded their regional targeting across a number of industries. "These campaigns range from targeted intrusions for traditional espionage - aimed at obtaining geopolitical and operational insight or facilitating intellectual property theft - to opportunistic intrusions for financial gain," researchers said."

Ransomware attacks in Europe reached record levels in 2025, driven by underground marketplaces selling Malware-as-a-Service, initial access brokerages, and phishing toolkits. European organizations accounted for nearly 22% of ransomware and extortion attacks in 2025 so far, ranking second after North America and more than twice the APAC rate. Attack groups accelerated operations, reducing average ransomware deployment time to 24 hours and increasing speed by 48% in some campaigns. State-sponsored groups from Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran expanded targeting across multiple sectors including healthcare, defense, energy, telecoms, and software supply chains.

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