2026 Cyber Claims Study Released by NetDiligence Shows Rising Costs from Ransomware and Large-Scale Incidents
NetDiligence released its sixteenth annual Cyber Claims Study, analyzing over 10,309 cyber insurance claims between 2021 and 2025. The report highlights a significant increase in ransom demands and payments, with some reaching up to $500 million demanded and $90 million paid—both new records for the study. Ransomware and Business Email Compromise (BEC) remain leading causes of cyber incidents, affecting nearly two-thirds of SME claims. The data also reveals a stark disparity in financial impact between small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), which account for 97% of all claims but only 44% of total costs, and large companies. Large firms represent just 3% of the dataset yet contribute to over half of incident-related expenses due to their scale and complexity. Legal and regulatory settlements alone reached up to $500 million in some cases. The study underscores growing cyber risk exposure across industries and highlights a need for increased awareness among SMEs, many of which remain underinsured or uninsured.
Topics: business email compromise cyber insurance data analysis ransomware