Index Engines, a leader in cyber resilience, today released a summary of the hardest-hitting ransomware statistics of 2024 as a reminder to make cyber recovery and trusted data integrity a priority for 2025.

Index Engines advocates for a recovery-first approach, enabling organizations to build infrastructure that ensures trusted, reliable data. Traditional backup and disaster recovery solutions often fall short in supporting true cyber resiliency, even with added “cyber” features like immutability, isolation, virus scanning, and multi-factor authentication.

Many vendors prioritize marketing over substance, positioning themselves as security leaders without delivering meaningful value. Over the last year, ransomware threats have proliferated and grown even more sophisticated, costing organizations more in downtime, lost revenue, and customer trust.

Index Engines’ flagship CyberSense^® sets the gold standard for intelligent, rapid recovery, trusted by over 1,500 organizations globally. Leveraging proven AI and ML, CyberSense detects advanced ransomware corruption and delivers unmatched recovery precision, minimizing data loss and downtime.

A range of top headlines suggests the scale of the problem and paint a picture of a global economy that is still struggling to meet the seriousness of this moment:

• This year alone, AI-driven ransomware has led to a doubling of attacks, with bad actors handily bypassing traditional defenses. 37% of global IT professionals now rank AI-enhanced attacks as their primary concern for 2025.
• Phishing has soared at the same time, with companies reporting a 55% increase via AI tools. The FBI has drawn attention to the escalating threat of bad actors using AI to impersonate executives and “conduct sophisticated phishing/social engineering attacks.”
• Novel infiltration methods have also been cited, with groups like Black Basta embedding malicious QR codes in MS Teams and new variants like Qilin. B, meanwhile, use enhanced encryption and evasion tactics, further complicating detection.
• 31 new ransomware groups emerged in 2024, a 30% YoY increase.
• Nearly 45% of organizations in OT, IoT, and healthcare faced losses of $500K+ in 2024.
• The Change Healthcare attack in 2024 exposed 100M Americans’ records, costing $1.521 billion in direct response. This was the largest breach of protected health information on record, severely impacting patient trust and company operations.

This multi-front expansion of the ransomware threat has, unsurprisingly, generated a new wave of institutional investment in cybersecurity: spending is projected to reach $215 billion this year, a YoY increase of close to 15%.

The impression overall is of a business world gradually realizing the nature of the threat it’s facing. While 78% of organizations have claimed readiness in the face of an attack, the fact remains that fully half fell victim to ransomware last year. Repeated breaches have driven the message home to stakeholders that the status quo is unacceptable.

To learn more about integrating Index Engines into your resilience strategy or to become an Index Engines partner, visit: www.indexengines.com/trust or email info@indexengines.com