Nearly half of organisations falling victim to ransomware encryption pay up, says report—although half of those often negotiate the payment down first

A man holding a gun drives a boat as money flies out the back in GTA Online.

Cybersecurity provider Sophos has released a report entitled "The State of Ransomware 2026," pulling together responses from 2,158 survey participants, ranging from IT directors to company executives, in regards to ransomware incidents.

Comparing the results to previous reports indicates that ransom demands themselves are actually decreasing—although 48% of organisations whose data was encrypted paid their attackers.