Guidepoint-Ransomware-Annual_Report-2026.md

GRIT’s 2026 annual ransomware and cyber threat report reviews 2025 activity: record public victim filings (7,515), 124 tracked ransomware groups, and major campaigns by Qilin, Akira, Clop and PLAY exploiting critical zero-days and KEVs (e.g., CVE-2025-31324, CVE-2025-61882, CVE-2024-40766). The report covers industry and country impacts, RaaS models and affiliate behavior, trends like BYOVD and AI-assisted operations, ransomware payment-rate analysis, and law enforcement disruption efforts, concluding with signposts and defensive recommendations for 2026.