That narrative is dead.
Today, ransomware has become a franchise. Anyone with $50 a month can rent a complete attack kit—malware, a control panel, "customer" support, a negotiation channel, and even performance reviews with conversion targets.
The cost of entry to destroy a company is less than the price of a dinner for two at a fine-dining restaurant.
Meanwhile, the average loss from a ransomware attack is $4.4 million—38 times higher than the average ransom of $115,000. And the total cost of recovery—including downtime, response teams, legal fees, and reputational damage—often exceeds the ransom amount by 5 to 10 times.
Welcome to the era of Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS). Cybercrime has become industrialized. And the preferred target? Small and medium-sized businesses that lack a single dedicated security employee.
🏪 The Crime Franchise: How RaaS Works
The RaaS model is a cynical copy of legitimate SaaS (Software as a Service). A specialized group develops the malware, maintains the infrastructure, and recruits affiliates—operators who pay a monthly fee or hand over 20% to 30% of the ransom in exchange for platform access.
What does the affiliate get?
- Malware ready for immediate use.
- A control panel to manage attacks.
- 24/7 technical support (yes, they have customer service).
- A negotiation channel to communicate with the victim. - A leak site to publish data from those who don't pay.
DragonForce, for example, allows you to pay US$ 500 in Monero or Bitcoin and walk away with customizable ransomware, a leak blog, and everything needed to start operating.
RaaS kits range from US$ 40 per month to a few thousand dollars. These are negligible amounts considering the median ransom demanded from victims in 2025 was US$ 59,000, and the average demand for small businesses in 2026 has already reached US$ 116,000.
US$ 40 investment. US$ 116,000 return. In a single attack.
📊 The Billion-Dollar Crime Market
Ransomware is no longer a niche activity. It is an industry.
Total revenue from ransomware payments in 2025 was approximately US$ 820 million in on-chain payments, according to Chainalysis. Eighty-five extortion groups competed for this market.
The number of active ransomware and extortion groups grew by 49% compared to the previous year. More than 7,000 organizations were publicly identified as victims on dark web leak sites in 2025—a 58% increase over 2024.
Check Point Research recorded a 60% increase in ransomware attacks between late 2024 and late 2025. And in the first quarter of 2026, 2,165 ransomware victims have already been recorded—an 18.5% increase over the 2025 annualized total.
The market is growing. Volume is exploding. And the barrier to entry has never been lower.
⚡ The Speed of Destruction: From Access to Encryption in 4 Hours
Time is the new battlefield.
The Akira group, one of the most active RaaS operations, manages to go from initial access to full network encryption in less than four hours. The group has already amassed over 1,400 victims since 2023 and collected at least US$ 245 million in ransom payments.
The "The Gentlemen" group, which emerged in mid-2025, has already listed approximately 332 victims in the first five months of 2026 alone—making it the second most prolific RaaS operation of the period.
What used to take days now takes hours. Affiliates waste no time. They follow a schedule: infiltration, reconnaissance, data exfiltration, and encryption. All in sequence, all fast, all ruthless.
Your time to detect and respond to an attack has shrunk from days to hours. Perhaps even less.
🎯 The Preferred Target: You (Yes, Your Small or Medium-Sized Business)
The biggest misconception about ransomware is that it only targets large corporations. In 2026, that logic no longer holds true.
60% of attacks in Brazil target small and medium-sized businesses. Ransomware was responsible for 88% of breaches at SMBs.
Why?
- Weaker defenses: Small businesses are 3 times more likely to suffer a successful breach than large companies.
- Faster payment: An accounting firm with 20 employees that cannot access client files negotiates and pays within days. A Fortune 500 company takes weeks.
- No security team: The average small business has zero employees dedicated to security. There is no one monitoring intrusion indicators at 2 a.m.—exactly the time when most ransomware attacks are executed.
- Weak backups: Only 23% of small businesses test their backups regularly. When ransomware strikes, most have no choice but to pay.
- Economies of scale: A RaaS group that encrypts 100 small businesses at $50,000 each generates more revenue than a $2 million attack on a large corporation—while attracting far less attention from authorities.
The target is no longer the whale. The target is the school of fish.---
🇧🇷 Brazil at the Epicenter
Brazil is the epicenter of cyberattacks in Latin America. The country recorded 315 billion cyberattack attempts in 2025, accounting for 84% of all attacks against the region.
North America’s mature digital infrastructure makes it the primary playground for RaaS operations that prioritize large payouts. However, Latin America—with its weaker defenses—is the preferred target for high-volume attacks.
Your company, located in Brazil, sits at the center of the risk map.
🇰🇵 Persistent Threats: When Nation-States Enter the Game
RaaS is already frightening. Now imagine it being operated by governments.
North Korea, through the notorious Lazarus Group, is increasingly focused on financial gain, using Medusa ransomware against healthcare and social service organizations worldwide. In February 2026, the Lazarus Group was identified as a Medusa affiliate, using the ransomware to fund its operations.
North Korea was responsible for over 70% of cryptocurrency exploits in 2026. In April 2026, Lazarus netted more than $577 million from just two exploits. It is estimated that groups linked to North Korea have generated over US$ 2 billion from cybercrime activities.
On the Russian side, the "FortiBleed" campaign—likely orchestrated by a Russian initial access broker—stole credentials from hundreds of thousands of FortiGate firewalls and used them to facilitate ransomware attacks by the INC and Lynx operations.
Google Cloud has warned that some ransomware operations deployed in 2026 will be specifically designed to impact critical corporate systems, such as ERPs, severely disrupting the supply chain.
It is no longer just crime. It is geopolitics.
💰 The Calculus of Crime: Why Paying Is Almost Always a Bad Idea
The average cost of a ransomware incident is $4.4 million. The average ransom is $115,000.
It seems like paying is cheaper, right?
Wrong.
64% of victims refused to pay ransoms in 2025. And for good reason:
- Paying the ransom does not guarantee data recovery.
- The total recovery cost averages $1.5 million.
- The payment rate dropped from 78.9% in 2022 to approximately 20% by the end of 2025.
- Nearly 1 in 5 small businesses that suffered a cyberattack went bankrupt or closed down.
The ransomware market is growing while simultaneously becoming less profitable. More attacks, fewer payments. Yet, $820 million a year remains a massive incentive for criminals.
🛡️ How Not to Be the Next Victim
RaaS (Ransomware-as-a-Service) has democratized crime. Defense needs to be democratized, too.
1. Assume You Will Be Attacked
It’s not a matter of "if," but "when." The Akira Group takes less than 4 hours to encrypt your entire network. That is the window you have to detect and respond. Plan accordingly.
2. Secure Initial Access
65% of attacks start with phishing. Train your team. Implement multi-factor authentication everywhere. The average price of a valid corporate credential has dropped to $439. Your employees are the cheapest target.
3. Test Your Backups
Only 23% of small businesses regularly test their backups. If you don't test them, you don't have a backup. Period.
4. Monitor 24/7
Most ransomware attacks are executed at night or before holidays. If no one is monitoring at 2 AM, you’ve likely already been compromised.
5. Don't Rely on Paying the Ransom
Paying doesn't guarantee recovery. And 64% of victims have found it possible to survive without paying. Invest in prevention, not ransom payments.
💡 Conclusion: The Digital Apocalypse Franchise
Ransomware has become a franchise business. The entry cost is $50 per month. The potential return is $116,000 per attack.
Brazil is right in the crosshairs. Small and medium-sized businesses are the preferred targets. Nation-states like North Korea and Russia are entering the game.
Organized crime has always been about scale. RaaS (Ransomware-as-a-Service) brought scale to ransomware. Now, anyone with $50 can destroy a company.
The question isn't if you will be attacked. It’s when—and whether you’ll be prepared to survive it.
The crime franchise is open for business. And your company's name is on the menu.
📌 Has your company tested its backups today? Have you trained your team to spot phishing? Have you implemented multi-factor authentication? If the answer to any of these questions is "no," you are the perfect target. Share this post with your team and start the conversation on how to avoid becoming the next statistic.
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