Nearly one in three organizations that fell victim to ransomware faced another attack. Additionally, 40 percent of Benelux victims who paid the ransom did not fully recover their data.
According to the Ransomware Insights Report 2025 by Barracuda Networks, 31 percent of organizations that were victims of ransomware last year were hit more than once. In the Benelux, 40 percent of organizations that paid the ransom did not recover all their data.
The report is based on a survey of 2,000 IT and security managers worldwide, including in the Benelux. It shows that 59 percent of the surveyed organizations in our region fell victim to ransomware last year, slightly above the global average of 57 percent. The healthcare sector and local governments are particularly affected.
Multiple Attacks
The repeated attacks point to weaknesses in security. Organizations indicate that their security environment is too fragmented: 74 percent of repeatedly affected companies struggle with too many different security tools. In 61 percent of cases, these tools do not integrate sufficiently, leading to blind spots in oversight and vulnerabilities that cybercriminals exploit.
Ransom Does not Equal Recovery
It is also noteworthy that paying ransom does not guarantee recovery. A recent study by Sophos found that 46 percent of surveyed organizations pay ransom to recover encrypted data. Moreover, a report by Unit 42 revealed that attackers are demanding increasingly higher ransoms.
According to Barracuda’s research, 40 percent of Benelux organizations that paid did not recover all their data. The cause lies partly in defective or incomplete decryption tools, corrupt files, or simply the absence of a decryption key from the attackers.
Multidimensional Impact
Ransomware attacks are increasingly extending beyond mere data encryption. In the Benelux, 32 percent of incidents involved malware infection, 27 percent involved data theft, and 24 percent involved the publication of stolen information. In one in five cases, attackers installed backdoors to maintain access to the network.
The impact is not limited to IT. For instance, 42 percent of Benelux organizations report reputational damage, and 27 percent experience a loss of new business opportunities. In some cases, companies face pressure from customers or shareholders to pay, or even employees are threatened.