Report: Cyber extortion success rate declining

Coveware's latest quarterly report found that ransomware operators are seeing fewer payouts as organizations increasingly resist extortion demands, with only 23% of victims having paid ransoms in Q3 2025, SecurityWeek reports.

Coveware linked the trend to improved responses from law enforcement, legal advisors, and cybersecurity professionals. The average ransom payment dropped 66% from the previous quarter to $377,000, while the median payment fell 65% to $140,000. Large enterprises are declining to pay, and mid-market firms that do pay are settling for smaller amounts.

"Paying to suppress the proliferation of stolen data has de minimis to zero utility," Coveware noted. Ransomware groups Qilin and Akira were the most active in Q3, with the professional services sector the primary target, according to separate ZeroFox and ReliaQuest reports.

ReliaQuest also observed a record of 81 data leak sites during the quarter. Meanwhile, ZeroFox recorded 1,429 ransomware and extortion cases, a 5% increase from Q2 but a 27% decline compared with Q1's peak of 1,961 incidents.