3 | 2025 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report | Executive Summary
Executive Summary
RANSOMWARE
61% of the time, hackers leverage
new exploit code within 2 days.
Our sensors defended against over
6B critical network attacks, for the
third consecutive year.
THREAT LANDSCAPE
Average Ransomware Cost: In 2024, the average
ransomware payment reached $850,700, with total
related losses often exceeding $4.91 million when
factoring in downtime and recovery costs. Most
organizations are not insured to that level.
850.7K
68DAYS
6B
2DAYS
Ransomware intensifies in North America
(+8%) and explodes in LATAM (+259%).
8%
Organizations were saved from a
potential 68 days of downtime in 2024.
Executive Summary
RANSOMWARE
61% of the time, hackers leverage
new exploit code within 2 days.
Our sensors defended against over
6B critical network attacks, for the
third consecutive year.
THREAT LANDSCAPE
Average Ransomware Cost: In 2024, the average
ransomware payment reached $850,700, with total
related losses often exceeding $4.91 million when
factoring in downtime and recovery costs. Most
organizations are not insured to that level.
850.7K
68DAYS
6B
2DAYS
Ransomware intensifies in North America
(+8%) and explodes in LATAM (+259%).
8%
Organizations were saved from a
potential 68 days of downtime in 2024.
4 | 2025 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report | Executive Summary
IoT attacks (+124%) and encrypted
threats (+93%) continue to climb globally.
IoT AND ENCRYPTED
MALWARE
Malware trended up 8% YoY, including
a massive 92% spike in May alone.
8%
85% of actionable customer-received
alerts seen by our managed services
team are related to identity/cloud and
account compromise
BEC incidents now account for a significant
portion of claims, with a strong year-over-year
increase in frequency - they are now 1/3 of
reported events, up from 9%.
SOC
85%
SonicWall identified 210,258
‘never-before-seen’ malware
variants – 637 a day
RTDMI™
1/3
124%
— NEW VARIANTS —
637
A DAY
IoT attacks (+124%) and encrypted
threats (+93%) continue to climb globally.
IoT AND ENCRYPTED
MALWARE
Malware trended up 8% YoY, including
a massive 92% spike in May alone.
8%
85% of actionable customer-received
alerts seen by our managed services
team are related to identity/cloud and
account compromise
BEC incidents now account for a significant
portion of claims, with a strong year-over-year
increase in frequency - they are now 1/3 of
reported events, up from 9%.
SOC
85%
SonicWall identified 210,258
‘never-before-seen’ malware
variants – 637 a day
RTDMI™
1/3
124%
— NEW VARIANTS —
637
A DAY
