Table of Contents
The CyberMaxx team of cyber researchers conducts routine threat research independent of client engagements. The purpose of our research is to help foster collective intelligence among the cybersecurity community.
While conducting their research, the team discovers and analyzes ongoing ransomware attacks occurring in the wild.
Review Q1’s research here.
Video Transcript
Intro
This report analyzes ransomware and data extortion activity in Q1 2026, building on trends observed throughout 2025. It examines changes in attack volume, threat actor behavior, and how activity is distributed across leading groups. The report also reviews industry targeting, identifying sectors with sustained activity and short-term spikes, alongside a geographic breakdown of affected regions. Overall, it providing a view of how ransomware activity has developed over the past 90 days, highlighting key patterns and global distribution across the threat landscape.
Ransomware numbers
Ransomware activity in Q1 2026 declined slightly compared to Q4 2025, with total recorded attacks falling from 2,406 to 2,282, a decrease of 5%. The number of active ransomware groups also dropped marginally from 71 to 69. While these changes show a minor reduction in volume, they do not indicate a significant shift in the overall threat environment.
Looking at the broader trend, ransomware activity increased steadily throughout 2025, reaching a peak in Q4 before easing in Q1 2026. In contrast, the number of active groups has gradually declined since Q3 2025, pointing to consolidation among fewer threat actors. This suggests that a smaller number of groups are responsible for a larger share of attacks, potentially operating with greater efficiency.
As a result, overall risk levels remain consistent, and organizations should continue prioritizing ransomware resilience and response readiness as part of the defensive security strategy.
Groups Analysis
In Q1 2026, Qilin remains the most active ransomware group, followed by TheGentlemen, Akira, IncRansom, and Cl0p. Qilin leads by a clear margin, with activity spread across Manufacturing, Technology, Healthcare, and Construction, this is due to their affiliate model which allows for a broad operation with consistent volume.
Akira demonstrates a balanced approach, maintaining steady activity across several sectors rather than showing concentration on any single industry. IncRansom follows a similar pattern, distributing attacks across Manufacturing, Technology, and Business Services, indicating flexibility and opportunistic targeting.
Cl0p differs in strategy, focusing heavily on the Technology sector and typically leveraging large-scale vulnerability exploitation to generate high attack volumes. This quarter saw Cl0p utilize CVE-2026-21992 and CVE-2026-61882 for widespread compromise of organizations.
And finally, TheGentlemen while lower in overall volume, showed a main concentration on organizations based in the Manufacturing and Technology sectors, with some activity in Financial Services.
Across all groups, Manufacturing, Technology, and Healthcare remain the most consistently targeted sectors, reinforcing their importance as key areas of risk due to their reliance on critical systems, high-value data, and operational sensitivity to disruption.
Geographic Review
Ransomware victims in Q1 2026 are heavily concentrated in developed economies, with the United States accounting for 924 attacks, significantly higher than any other country. This reflects its large economy, high number of organizations, and extensive digital infrastructure.
The UK, Germany, and Canada follow with lower but still notable volumes of activity, while countries such as France, Italy, India, and Spain are showing similar levels of attacks. This indicates that ransomware remains focused on major economies with high levels of digitization.
Beyond these countries however, there is a broader distribution of activity across regions including Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and parts of the Middle East and Africa. Countries such as Brazil, Japan, Australia, and Taiwan have experienced consistent levels of attacks.
This distribution shows that ransomware is a global threat, with attackers prioritizing scale and accessibility rather than being limited by geography.
Conclusion
Ransomware activity in Q1 2026 reflects a threat landscape that remains stable at an elevated level following significant growth in 2025. While there has been a slight decline in both total attacks and active groups from last quarter, attack volume has still risen from last year, meaning this has not resulted in a meaningful reduction in overall risk.
Instead, activity appears to be consolidating among a smaller number of highly active and capable threat actors, indicating a more mature and efficient ecosystem. Key sectors such as Technology, Manufacturing, and Healthcare continue to be primary targets, while attacks remain globally distributed with a strong concentration in developed economies, primarily the US.
Overall, the data from this quarter suggests that ransomware will remain a persistent threat, and organizations should continue to prioritize strong prevention, detection, and response capabilities to manage ongoing exposure.
