Research
June 2026 · DOI
Ransomware Economics: An Empirical Analysis of Payments, Actors and Policy Responses (2019–2025)
This paper examines ransomware economics. Drawing on original data and 28 expert interviews, we find that existing policy frameworks underestimate systemic risk and overestimate institutional capacity. Our analysis of open-source data covering the past eighteen months points to a clear inflection point in the second quarter, when the frequency of reported incidents more than doubled. That trend has since plateaued, but at a level well above the pre-crisis baseline. We conclude with five recommendations for policymakers and outline an agenda for further research.
Daniel Reyes, Kwame Asante
PDF
