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What’s in Each Brief?

Each monthly threat brief covers:

• Active ransomware groups: A ranked table of the most active groups with victim counts and month-over-month changes. The top 10 groups typically account for more than half of all victims.
• Targeted countries: Which countries saw the most attacks and which ones entered the top ten for the first time. Victims typically span 70+ countries each month.
• Targeted industries: Victim counts by sector so you can benchmark your own exposure. The rankings shift month to month, so last month’s safe sector can be this month’s top target.
• New and growing groups: Groups that appeared recently or scaled fast. The ransomware landscape turns over quickly, and today’s top ten often includes groups that didn’t exist a year earlier.
• Weekly breakdowns: Attack volume by week so you can see whether activity spiked or stayed steady throughout the month.
• Fake and inflated claims: We call out scam operations and exclude them from the data. Not every leak site post is real, and we flag the ones that aren’t.
• Methodology: How we collect and count the data from ransomware groups’ own leak sites. Numbers reflect publicly claimed victims, not confirmed breaches.

Every report includes tables and percentages you can drop into a board deck or security review without extra formatting.

Why Track Ransomware Trends Monthly?

Benchmark Your Industry’s Risk

Each brief ranks the most targeted industries by victim count. If your sector is in the top 15, you’ll know exactly where you stand and can prioritize defenses accordingly.

Spot New Groups Early

Four of the top ten groups in January 2026 didn’t exist a year earlier. Monthly tracking helps you catch new operations before they show up in your incident queue.

Share Data With Leadership

Each report includes ranked tables, victim-count breakdowns, and percentage shifts you can drop into a board deck or security review. The charts are formatted for copy-paste without reinterpretation.
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Who Reads the Brief and What They Do With It

The monthly brief lands in different inboxes for different reasons. Here's what each reader pulls from it and the action it informs.

  • CISOS

    Board reporting and budget conversations

    Industry-by-industry victim counts show the board where your sector ranks. Drop the table into your quarterly update without rebuilding it.

    What they extract:
    Industry rankingsTrend linesBoard-ready tables
  • SOC MANAGERS

    Trend awareness for your team

    The brief flags new and fast-growing groups so you can update detection rules and tabletop scenarios before they hit your environment.

    What they extract:
    New and growing group profilesweekly attack volume for detection tuning.
  • THREAT INTEL ANALYSTS

    Raw data for your own analysis

    Per-group victim counts, country distribution, and weekly breakdowns feed your dashboards. Methodology notes let you defend conclusions.

    What they extract:
    Raw victim countsmethodology notesfake claim flags for intel reports.
  • MSP / MSSP MARKETING

    Newsletter content for clients

    Quote the top group, lift one industry chart, and link back. Clients get current intel and you don't burn an analyst day producing it.

    What they extract:
    Top group rankingsindustry chartsshareable tables for client newsletters.

Frequently Asked Questions

Breachsense publishes a new threat brief every month, covering the previous month’s ransomware activity. Reports are typically available within the first few weeks of the following month.
The data comes from Breachsense’s continuous monitoring of ransomware groups’ own leak sites. These are dark web pages where groups publicly list victims who haven’t paid. The numbers reflect claimed victims, not confirmed breaches.
Yes. The reports are public and designed to be shared. Each one includes tables with victim counts by group, country, and industry that you can use in security reviews or board presentations.
Most ransomware groups buy stolen credentials from infostealer malware logs rather than breaking in themselves. There’s often a gap of days to weeks between when credentials are stolen and when ransomware gets deployed. Monitoring for leaked credentials can help you catch and reset them before attackers use them.
Claimed victims are companies listed on ransomware groups’ leak sites. Some claims are exaggerated or duplicated across groups. The actual number of attacks is higher than what we report because many victims pay before being listed publicly.
Breachsense tracks over 100 ransomware groups. In January 2026 alone, 58 distinct groups were active. The number changes monthly as new groups appear and older ones go quiet.

Related Resources

Ransomware Reports Archive

Browse all monthly and annual ransomware reports from Breachsense.

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Ransomware Gangs

Profiles of active ransomware groups, including their tactics and targeting patterns.

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Dark Web Monitoring

How Breachsense monitors criminal marketplaces and leak sites for your compromised data.

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Infostealer Malware

How credential-stealing malware works and why it’s the top initial access vector for ransomware.

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Dark Web Monitoring Methodology

How Breachsense collects, verifies, and indexes data from dark web sources.

Learn More

Enterprise Response Playbook

Step-by-step workflows for responding to credential exposures and breach alerts.

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