Nearly one in five ransomware attacks lead to a lawsuit in 2023, according to data collated by Comparitech researchers.

Lawsuits filed following ransomware attacks have increased in the last two years, the research shows, with the average over the past five years being 12%.

Of the 3,000 confirmed ransomware attacks included in the study, 355 lawsuits were filed. Of these, 228 were completed so far, 59% of which were successful and lead to a data breach settlement or the company being fined, or were settled through mediation.

A further 57 (25%) were voluntarily dismissed by plaintiffs, suggesting that out-of-court settlements were reached. Only 11% of cases (25) were dismissed in court.

In the 112 settlement cases where figures were provided, these figured totaled over $245 million (£195.6m), with the average settlement being $2.2m (£176m). 2023’s average was $2.1 million (£168m).

Further, organisations have been hit with nearly $10 million (£8m) in penalties for company failures during the ransomware incidents, the highest amount being $8.7m.

The main factor leading to a ransomware lawsuit is a data breach. Of the 355 attacks leading to lawsuits, 283.3 million records were involved, accounting for 80% of records impacted across all the ransomware attacks confirmed from 2018 to 2023.

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Some of the largest breaches of data were seen in the healthcare and finance sectors, where Comparitech also saw the most lawsuits filed.

However, the technology industry saw the most records impacting. This was because of the huge attacks, and their associated databases, on MOVIEit, Blackbaud, and others. Multiple companies were affected due to these attacks, highlighting the massive amount of data in jeopardy due to unpatched vulnerabilities across software stacks.

Of the top 50 ransomware attacks since 2018, in terms of records affected, 48 have lead to lawsuits.