GoKawiilRansomware's hidden costs dwarf ransom payments, new data shows
IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report 2025 puts the average total cost of a ransomware incident at $5.08 million once downtime, remediation, legal work and business disruption are counted, while Verizon's 2026 DBIR pegs the median ransom payment at just $139,875. Datto's State of BCDR Report 2025 adds that while over 60% of organizations expect to recover within a day, only 35% actually do, and attackers increasingly target backup systems, forcing costly forensic and incident-response work when recovery options are compromised.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
These figures show the ransom itself is a minor line item compared with lost revenue, extended downtime and post-incident remediation, meaning companies that focus preparedness spending only on ransom negotiation or insurance are missing the bigger financial risk. For mid-market firms especially, recovery speed functions as a direct financial metric, making resilient backup and disaster recovery infrastructure a cost-control measure, not just an IT safeguard.
- Average total ransomware cost hits $5.08 million versus a $139,875 median ransom payment.
- Only 35% of organizations recover within a day despite 60% expecting to.
- Attackers are increasingly targeting backup systems, complicating and raising the cost of recovery.
Synology DS923+ NAS with backup software — Ransomware recovery costs balloon largely due to downtime and lost/corrupted data, and a dedicated NAS device configured for automated, versioned backups is a practical BCDR building block for small and mid-sized businesses. Having offline or immutable backup snapshots stored separately from your main network can dramatically cut recovery time and reduce reliance on paying a ransom. It's a concrete, affordable step toward the resilience the article says matters more than the ransom itself.
See Synology DS923+ NAS with backup software on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: bleepingcomputer.com, 2026-09-16
Published there as: “The true cost of a ransomware attack, with and without BCDR”
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