Ransomware attacks in 2018: 168 confirmed incidents

// CONFIRMED RANSOMWARE ATTACKS · YEAR

Ransomnews has confirmed 168 ransomware attacks in 2018, the most recent in December 2018, each one verified against a public source such as a breach notification, regulatory filing, court record or press report. That is 1.8% of the 9,520 confirmed incidents in the dataset. The United States accounts for 114 of them (68%), with victims recorded in 24 countries in total. The most affected sector is government, with 58 confirmed victims (35%). Where the operator is attributed, SamSam leads with 13 confirmed victims. A ransom payment is on the public record in 22 cases and a refusal in 53; the outcome is unrecorded in the remaining 93.

Confirmed ransomware attacks by month, 2018

Confirmation lags the attack, sometimes by months, so the most recent months of the current year are provisional and fill in as disclosures, filings and reporting catch up.

Which ransomware groups had the most confirmed victims in 2018

The operator is attributed in 42 of the 168 confirmed incidents. Counts are confirmed victims, not leak-site claims, so they run well below the totals the groups publish about themselves. Group names link to the live Ransomtracker profile where one exists.

Where the confirmed attacks in 2018 fall

Country shares carry a reporting bias. United States breach-notification law and SEC disclosure rules push far more incidents onto the public record than most jurisdictions, which makes American attacks easier to confirm and inflates the US share of any confirmed dataset.

Ransom payment outcomes in 2018

Among the 75 confirmed incidents in 2018 where the outcome is on the public record, 22 paid and 53 refused, a disclosed payment rate of 29.3%. The remaining 93 carry no public statement either way. Victims that pay have every incentive to stay quiet and public bodies are the most likely to announce a refusal, so treat this as the disclosed rate, not the true one. The ransomware payment rate analysis explains how the disclosed rate has moved since 2018 and how it compares with incident-response firm samples.

Largest confirmed ransomware attacks in 2018 by records exposed

Record counts are recorded only where a named source disclosed them, which is the minority of cases, so this table ranks disclosed impact rather than true impact.

Most recent confirmed ransomware attacks in 2018

The 25 most recently confirmed of 168 incidents, newest first. Every row links to the public source it was verified against.

Frequently asked questions

How to read this page. Every incident counted here was verified by Ransomnews against at least one public source. Leak-site listings alone do not qualify, because operators inflate, duplicate and occasionally fabricate claims, so these totals are a defensible floor rather than a full census. Records exposed and ransom outcomes appear only where a named source disclosed them. The page is regenerated from the live database, which refreshes weekly. Cite as: Ransomnews Confirmed Ransomware Attacks Dataset, ransomnews.com, with a link to this page. Bulk access and methodology questions: [email protected]. See also the monthly ransomware statistics and the Ransomtracker.