Ransomware attacks rose nearly 20% in July, reaching 799 incidents, compared with 668 in June, according to Comparitech. The July total was the second‑largest monthly count of the year, behind March's 805 attacks, and included 51 confirmed victim cases.

Attacks on utilities fell 44%, while legal firms and government agencies saw declines of 31% and 11%, respectively, Comparitech reported.

Ransomware activity increased in the finance sector by 71%, technology by 62%, pharmaceuticals by 46% and education by 44%.

DeepStrike reported that manufacturers, education, healthcare and finance firms are the most likely to pay ransoms, with finance still paying in 51% of incidents.

The United States accounted for 322 of the 799 attacks, the highest among countries, followed by Germany with 40 incidents.

Two ransomware groups, Qilin and the Gentlemen, claimed 125 and 135 victims respectively, together representing nearly a third of July's attacks. Qilin was linked to the 2024 breach of Synnovis that disrupted UK health services, while the Gentlemen had previously claimed an attack on Adaptavist Group.

Comparitech did not disclose specific ingress methods, though Trend Micro associated The Gentlemen with stolen credentials and Qilin said it used a zero‑day exploit to breach Synnovis in June 2024.

Security experts advise employing multi‑factor authentication, keeping systems patched, and maintaining regular backups to mitigate ransomware risk.

Focus on AI security developments remains high, but ransomware continues to affect a broad range of sectors.