Increases in AI-Driven Attacks and a Rise in Physical Threats Against Executives and Their Families: Semperis 2026 Ransomware Report
Semperis, the identity-driven cyber
resilience and crisis response company, published results from its annual global
ransomware report, highlighting that AI plays a significant role in the
ransomware economy. In addition, hackers are increasingly threatening physical
harm against companies' employees to extract ransom payments; in more than half
the reported cases, the attackers followed through on those threats. Only
organizations that were victimized by ransomware gangs in the past 12 months
were included in the study.
"An
attacker has one goal in mind: They want to extract something from you. And the
only way they're going to do that is to make the cost of resisting their
demands greater than the cost of giving in," said Chris Inglis, the first
U.S. National Cyber Director and a Semperis Strategic Advisor. "Holding
you at physical risk is the latest phenomenon because we've covered most of the
other risks."
The 2026
Ransomware Risk Report, found that bad actors are threatening victims with
psychological intimidation in nearly 25% of all attacks in the U.S., UK,
France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Singapore, Canada and Australia. In 53% of
cases, the victims reported that the hackers followed through on their threats;
23% of victims or family members were swatted; 25% of victims sought
psychological and medical treatment because of the ransomware attack; and 24%
of victims or families hired personal security.
"IT
and cybersecurity staff are already dealing with high levels of stress,"
says Tim Beasley, Semperis Senior Incident Response Consultant. "A
ransomware attack takes that to a whole new level. I have seen CISOs say, 'I'm
out. I'm done. I can't do this. It isn't worth it.' I've seen people walk out
the door because leadership thought they mismanaged something that caused the
breach to occur. It all takes a mental toll."
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