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Cyberattacks surge globally as ransomware increases 87% in July 2026
Global cyber threat levels have risen significantly, with organizations experiencing an average of 2,336 attacks per week in July 2026. Ransomware activity has seen a sharp acceleration, with reported attacks increasing by 87% compared to July 2025.
Education remains the most targeted sector globally, averaging 4,848 weekly attacks per organization. Other highly targeted industries include government, telecommunications, and energy and utilities. In the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, Kaspersky reported blocking 75 million online threats in the first half of 2026, including 250,000 ransomware attacks.
Criminal groups are increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence to scale their operations. Flashpoint reports that 22 million illicit discussions regarding criminal AI toolkits were tracked in the first half of the year. Threat actors are moving toward using locally hosted AI models without safeguards to generate phishing content, malware, and exploits. Additionally, the rise of infostealers poses a growing risk, as these programs silently steal credentials, session cookies, and financial data to facilitate more sophisticated attacks.
Entities
APAC · Asia-Pacific · Bitdefender · Check Point Research · Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. · Flashpoint · Kaspersky · Philippines · Viettel Cyber Security
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how well corroborated each claim is across sources.
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Education was the most targeted sector globally in July, averaging 4,848 weekly attacks per organization. nationalcybersecurity.com
- [● 4 SOURCES] Ransomware attacks in July 2026 increased by 87% compared to July 2025. nationalcybersecurity.com · techcoffeehouse.com · www.diariodesevilla.es · www.malagahoy.es
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Criminal groups are increasingly using locally hosted AI models without safeguards to generate phishing and malware. nationalcybersecurity.com
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Nearly 1 in 3 organizations worldwide experienced a software supply chain incident over the past year. www.tech-critter.com
- [○ 1 SOURCE] AI-driven cybercrime is operating at scale, with 22 million illicit discussions involving criminal AI toolkits tracked in the first half of the year. nationalcybersecurity.com
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Kaspersky blocked 75 million online threats in the APAC region during the first half of 2026. www.tech-critter.com
- [● 4 SOURCES] Organizations worldwide experienced an average of 2,336 cyber attacks per week in July 2026. nationalcybersecurity.com · techcoffeehouse.com · www.diariodesevilla.es · www.malagahoy.es
- [○ 1 SOURCE] More than 19.2 million credentials were compromised in the Philippines during the first half of 2026. www.lionheartv.net
- [○ 1 SOURCE] Kaspersky blocked 250,000 ransomware attacks in the APAC region during the first half of 2026. www.tech-critter.com