Ransomware attacks in 2020: 1,229 confirmed incidents

// CONFIRMED RANSOMWARE ATTACKS · YEAR

Ransomnews has confirmed 1,229 ransomware attacks in 2020, the most recent in December 2020, each one verified against a public source such as a breach notification, regulatory filing, court record or press report. That is 12.9% of the 9,520 confirmed incidents in the dataset. That is 168% more than the 459 confirmed in 2019. The United States accounts for 658 of them (54%), with victims recorded in 68 countries in total. The most affected sector is healthcare, with 183 confirmed victims (15%). Where the operator is attributed, Maze leads with 147 confirmed victims. A ransom payment is on the public record in 45 cases and a refusal in 189; the outcome is unrecorded in the remaining 995.

Confirmed ransomware attacks by month, 2020

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 2020

The operator is attributed in 797 of the 1,229 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 2020 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 2020

Among the 234 confirmed incidents in 2020 where the outcome is on the public record, 45 paid and 189 refused, a disclosed payment rate of 19.2%. The remaining 995 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 2020 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 2020

The 25 most recently confirmed of 1,229 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.