The first quarter of 2025 saw a surge in ransomware attacks worldwide, with a 126% rise in incidents mainly targeting firms in North America.

That’s according to the latest data from Check Point, with the cybersecurity firm warning that its researchers have witnessed the number of ransomware attacks per organisation increase by 47% compared to the same period last year, reaching an average of 1,925 weekly attacks.

The education sector was by far the hardest hit in the opening months of this year, with 4,484 weekly attacks, with the government sector coming in second, at 2,678 ransomware attacks per organisation per week, a 51% increase.

The data shows that the consumer goods and services sector was the most targeted by ransomware actors over Q1 2025, making up 13.2% of reported attacks globally, with business services and industrial manufacturing sectors following close behind, accounting for 9.8% and 9.1% of ransomware incidents. 

Meanwhile, the telecommunications sector experienced the highest percentage increase, with a 94% jump, reaching 2,664 ransom attacks per organisation weekly.

Check Point warned that the increasing dependence on digital systems, combined with the high visibility of these sectors, has made such critical infrastructure an attractive target for cyber-attackers seeking weak points to exploit.

In a considerable jump compared to Q1 2024, there were over 2,200 more ransomware incidents reported this year, with North America representing 62% of these cases, followed by Europe at 21%.

However, Africa had the highest number of ransomware incidents per organisation, with 3,286 weekly attacks, while Latin America saw the largest year-on-year increase at 108%, reaching 2,640 ransom attacks per organisation every week.

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Check Point’s data is the latest showing a disturbing upward trend in ransomware incidents, with cybersecurity teams battling to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated attackers.

A recent report from BlackFog underscores the seriousness of the current threat landscape, finding that March 2025 set a new ransomware record with over a hundred publicly disclosed attacks, an 8% rise compared to March last year, with estimates that around 2124 ransomware incidents went unreported over the quarter, equating to a 113% year-on-year rise.

In light of that worrying rise in ransom incidents, figures from CyberEdge Group have found that attackers’ demands have dropped from peaks witnessed in 2023, although that might be scant relief when only around half of those hit with ransomware managed to recover their data.