The Evolving Economics of Ransomware: Fewer Payments, Bigger Payouts 

Morphisec’s CTO briefing describes how ransomware economics are shifting in 2025: although only ~23–26% of victims pay, total payouts are increasing as RaaS groups (e.g., Keeling, Akira, DragonForce) prioritize fewer, high-value targets and leverage multi-layer extortion, longer dwell times, and strategic timing. Framing ransomware as an industrialized business, it advises CISOs to adopt preemptive defenses, harden identity and cloud, rigorously validate segmented backups, and quantify cyber risk in business terms.