Arctic Wolf released its annual Arctic Wolf Threat Report, offering an in-depth analysis of
the evolving cyber threat landscape. This year’s findings underscore how
cybercriminals are adapting their methods to bypass stronger security
defenses-prioritizing data theft, refining business email compromise (BEC) scams,
and exploiting known vulnerabilities to infiltrate organizations worldwide.
Leveraging
insights from Arctic Wolf’s incident response (IR) engagements, threat
intelligence research, and telemetry from the Arctic Wolf Aurora Platform, the
report provides a detailed examination of the tactics, techniques, and
procedures (TTPs) attackers are using to outmaneuver traditional defenses. It
also offers actionable recommendations for organizations looking to enhance
their cybersecurity resilience, taking advantage of the report’s description of
the current threat landscape.
“The 2025
Arctic Wolf Threat Report highlights a critical shift in cybercriminal
behavior: data exfiltration has become the norm, not the exception,” said Kerri
Shafer-Page, vice president of incident response, Arctic Wolf. “Threat actors
are no longer just locking up data with ransomware; they’re stealing it first
to maximize pressure on victims. The insights help organizations understand the
risks they face today and shape the advanced detection and response strategies
embedded within the Arctic Wolf Aurora Platform to keep our customers secure.”
Key findings
from the 2025 Arctic Wolf Threat Report include:
- Steal first, extort second. As organizations improve their ability to recover from
ransomware, cybercriminals have turned to data exfiltration to increase
leverage-96% of ransomware cases analyzed included data theft. - The cybercrime trifecta. Three types of cybersecurity incidents account for
95% of all incident response (IR) cases: ransomware 44%, business email
compromise (BEC) 27%, and intrusions 24%. - Threat actors follow the money. BEC continues to grow as a preferred tactic,
particularly in the finance and insurance sector, where it accounted for
53% of IR cases-making it the only industry where BEC outpaced ransomware. - Patch or pay.
In 76% of intrusion cases, attackers exploited just 10 specific
vulnerabilities-none of which were zero-days, and most linked to remote
access tools and externally facing services. This reinforces the need for
proactive patch management. - Ransomware’s price tag: $600K. Median ransom demands remain high at $600,000 USD,
demonstrating that ransomware remains a lucrative business for
cybercriminals despite increased law enforcement action. - Never split the difference. The Arctic Wolf Incident Response Team helped reduce
aggregate ransom demands by 64%, and 70% of clients using Arctic Wolf’s
negotiation services avoided paying ransoms altogether.
The 2025
Arctic Wolf Threat Report brings together Arctic Wolf’s top security minds-from
incident responders and researchers to data scientists and engineers-to provide
a comprehensive analysis of today’s evolving cyber threat landscape. This
essential resource helps security, IT, and business leaders anticipate threats,
strengthen defenses, and stay ahead of adversaries. Powered by insights from
the Arctic Wolf Aurora Platform and backed by security operations expertise
from one of the world’s largest commercial Security Operations Centers (SOCs),
Arctic Wolf delivers the intelligence and defense organizations need to
proactively detect, respond to, and remediate cyber threats.
For additional insights and to download the full
2025 Arctic Wolf Threat Report
