Ransomware · 17h ago
NCC Group said August 2026 saw a record 1,073 ransomware victims, a 12% rise from July and the highest monthly total it has logged this year. North America accounted for the largest share of incidents, and the industrial sector made up 31% of reported cases.
The pattern matters because the pressure is landing on operational industries, not just office networks. In NCC Group’s snapshot, industrial targets were the single biggest sector, which means disruption and downtime remain part of the extortion calculus alongside data loss.
For manufacturing and other industrial organizations, the report sits as a warning about where attackers are concentrating, not a product-specific flaw or campaign detail. What it does not answer is which controls or sectors will absorb the next spike; it only shows that the blast radius is already leaning toward operational environments.
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Ransomware Attacks Reach Record High for 2026
A total of 1073 firms fell victim to ransomware attacks globally in August, with the industrial sector the most affected, according to new NCC data
Part of the PlainSec briefing for 2026-09-23