Ransomware remains one of the biggest cybersecurity threats facing organisations in 2025, with the potential to cause severe financial losses, operational disruptions, and data breaches. Beyond the immediate costs associated with ransom payments and recovery, ransomware attacks often result in long-term reputational damage, legal consequences, and regulatory penalties—especially in sectors with strict data protection requirements. In this blog, we explore the top ransomware trends for 2025 that businesses need to beware of, as well as offering insights into how businesses can better defend themselves.
Increase in Human-operated Ransomware Attacks
One of the key ransomware trends in 2025 is the rise of human-operated ransomware. These attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, with attackers manually navigating networks to exploit vulnerabilities and maximise damage. In 2024, Microsoft reported a 2.75x increase in human-operated ransomware incidents, where attackers targeted at least one device within a network.1
Cybercriminals favour human-operated attacks because they offer several strategic advantages:
- Greater flexibility and precision: Attackers can tailor their actions based on specific environments.
- Real-time decision-making: Skilled attackers can adapt to defenses and maximise disruption by exploiting network vulnerabilities.
- Effective for high-value targets: These attacks are particularly effective when targeting organisations with critical data, where ransom demands are higher.
- Double extortion: Attackers exfiltrate sensitive data before encryption, demanding separate ransoms for data decryption and confidentiality.
- Stealthy access: Human operators often use legitimate administrative tools to evade detection, maintaining a prolonged presence within the network.

As these attacks become more prevalent, businesses must adopt advanced threat detection and proactive response measures to mitigate risks.
Social Engineering is Here to Stay
Social engineering remains a dominant ransomware trend in 2025, as attackers exploit human psychology to bypass technical defenses. Between July 2023 and June 2024, Microsoft detected 775 million malware-laden email messages, underscoring the scale of social engineering-based attacks.
Attackers use techniques like phishing, vishing (voice phishing), and smishing (SMS phishing) to deceive users into revealing sensitive information or downloading malware. Key reasons for its widespread use include:
Exploiting Human Error: People are often the weakest link in cybersecurity. Attackers can manipulate individuals into revealing sensitive information, such as passwords or access credentials, bypassing even the most sophisticated technical defenses.
Bypassing Security Technologies: Social engineering attacks, such as phishing, allow attackers to circumvent firewalls, antivirus software, and other technical safeguards by directly targeting users, tricking them into granting access or downloading malicious files.
Low Cost and High Scalability: Social engineering attacks are inexpensive and can be executed on a large scale with minimal resources.
Customisable and Adaptive: Social engineering tactics can be tailored to specific individuals (spear phishing) or organisations, increasing their effectiveness.
Difficulty in Detection: Social engineering relies on trust and deception, making it harder to detect through automated security systems. Since these attacks often mimic legitimate communication, they can easily slip past spam filters and other defenses.
Effective in Gaining Initial Foothold: Once attackers successfully deceive a user, they can gain access to critical systems or credentials, allowing them to escalate privileges, move laterally within the network, and carry out further attacks, such as deploying ransomware.
To combat these risks, organisations must invest in employee cybersecurity training, strengthen email security, and implement robust identity management solutions.
Cybercriminals Tampering with Security Settings
A growing ransomware trend in 2025 involves the increasing use of tactics that involve tampering with security settings. By disabling or modifying key security controls, attackers make it easier to execute attacks without detection or interruption. Common techniques include:
- Disabling endpoint protection to prevent detection during the attack.
- Tampering with logging and auditing to hide malicious activity and delay incident response.
- Bypassing network segmentation to gain broader access across the network.
- Facilitating ransomware deployment by weakening defenses and ensuring the encryption process is uninterrupted.
Organisations can reduce this risk by regularly auditing security settings, enforcing strict change controls, and deploying automated tools that alert on unauthorised changes.

Exploitation of Unmanaged Devices in Ransomware Attacks
Another significant ransomware trend for 2025 is the exploitation of unmanaged devices. In over 90% of attacks that progressed to the ransom stage in 2024, cybercriminals leveraged unmanaged devices to gain initial access or encrypt assets during the impact phase.1 Unmanaged devices, such as employee-owned or improperly secured endpoints, present weak entry points for attackers.
Common attack stages involving unmanaged devices include:
Initial Access: Attackers exploit unpatched vulnerabilities or trick users through phishing to gain unauthorised access.
Privilege Escalation: Weak credentials or outdated software allow attackers to escalate privileges and gain greater control over the network.
Lateral Movement: By exploiting trust relationships, attackers move laterally within the network to access more critical systems.
Disabling Security Measures: Attackers disable or bypass security tools like EDR (endpoint detection and response) by exploiting weak configurations.
Deploying Ransomware: Once attackers have gained sufficient control over the network, they deploy ransomware by remotely encrypting critical systems and backups.
Evading Detection: Unmanaged devices often lack proper monitoring, allowing attackers to remain undetected for extended periods.
Preventive Measures in Securing Unmanaged Devices
To reduce the risk of ransomware attacks involving unmanaged devices, organisations should implement the following preventive measures:
- Ensure complete network visibility by identifying and securing all devices, including those brought in by employees (BYOD).
- Apply network segmentation to limit the access of unmanaged devices to critical systems.
- Enforce strict access controls by using multi-factor authentication (MFA) and least privilege principles.
- Deploy endpoint security solutions that can monitor and respond to suspicious activities.
- Regularly update and patch all devices connected to the network to reduce exploitable vulnerabilities.
Preparing for Ransomware Trends in 2025
As ransomware threats continue to evolve in 2025, attackers are adopting more sophisticated tactics, including human-operated attacks, exploitation of unmanaged devices, social engineering, and tampering with security settings. These trends highlight the importance of a proactive and layered cybersecurity approach, combining advanced threat detection, incident response capabilities, and employee education.
By staying ahead of these ransomware trends for 2025 and investing in robust security solutions, organisations can significantly reduce the risk of ransomware incidents and their potential impact.

How Can CWSI Help Defend Against Ransomware Attacks
At CWSI, we have over a decade of experience helping organisations across various sectors strengthen their security posture and protect against ransomware. Our tailored security solutions are designed to address the unique needs of each business, with services such as our Managed Security Operations Service providing proactive threat monitoring and rapid incident response.
If you’re interested in learning how we can help safeguard your organisation against emerging ransomware threats in 2025, fill out the form below, and one of our security experts will get in touch.