New threat intelligence findings from Check Point Software Technologies indicate that India’s ransomware landscape is entering a significantly more aggressive phase, shaped by AI-assisted cyber operations, access-driven attacks, and the rise of fewer but more sophisticated ransomware groups.
According to the report, organisations in India faced an average of 3,300 cyber-attacks per week over the past six months, substantially higher than the global average of 2,064 attacks per organisation. The data suggests that India is becoming one of the most heavily targeted cyber environments globally as enterprises accelerate digital transformation and cloud adoption.
A major trend identified is the evolution of ransomware from opportunistic phishing campaigns to access-driven attack operations. Threat actors are increasingly exploiting exposed infrastructure, compromised credentials, cloud access paths, and weak identity controls rather than relying solely on traditional malware delivery methods.
The report found that 92% of malicious files delivered in India originated through web-based channels, while information disclosure vulnerabilities affected nearly 74% of organisations, highlighting how attackers are targeting internet-facing systems and cloud-connected environments.
Globally, the ransomware ecosystem is also undergoing structural consolidation. While attack volumes remain near historic highs, activity is increasingly concentrated among a smaller number of highly capable ransomware operators. According to Check Point Research, the top 10 ransomware groups accounted for 71% of all publicly disclosed victims in Q1 2026.
The report highlights groups such as Qilin, LockBit, Akira, and The Gentlemen as examples of more operationally mature ransomware organisations capable of launching high-scale, repeatable attacks across regions and industries. This shift reflects the growing industrialisation of ransomware operations, where stronger groups absorb infrastructure, affiliates, and compromised access from smaller operators.
A key insight from the report is the growing role of pre-positioned access inventories in modern ransomware operations. Rather than waiting to identify victims after exploitation, attackers increasingly operate using already-compromised VPNs, cloud credentials, and enterprise entry points, enabling rapid deployment of attacks at scale.
The findings also indicate that ransomware targeting patterns are becoming increasingly tied to where attackers already possess infrastructure access, rather than purely based on industry attractiveness or financial value. This reflects a broader evolution towards AI-assisted, infrastructure-aware cyber operations.
Industries with complex and highly connected environments, including manufacturing, healthcare, government, financial services, and industrial sectors, remain among the most exposed, largely due to high operational dependency and expansive digital attack surfaces.
From a defensive standpoint, the report stresses the need for organisations to move beyond reactive security models towards AI-driven exposure management and zero-trust security architectures. Recommended approaches include hybrid mesh network security, continuous exposure validation, cloud access governance, ransomware-aware segmentation, and AI-assisted threat detection across endpoints and SaaS environments.
The report also underscores the increasing importance of exposure management platforms, which prioritise vulnerabilities and access paths based on realistic exploitation likelihood rather than static severity scoring. This reflects a broader industry shift towards risk-contextualised cyber defence strategies.
Overall, the findings point to a rapidly changing cybersecurity landscape where ransomware operations are evolving into highly organised, AI-enabled cyber ecosystems, capable of executing faster, more targeted, and operationally resilient attacks across increasingly interconnected digital infrastructure.