Europe has emerged as ransomware gangs' most attractive hunting ground in 2026, with new research showing a dramatic acceleration in attacks against European organizations — driven by a fragmented but increasingly prolific ransomware-as-a-service ecosystem.
The Numbers
According to research by Black Kite, covering the period from January 2025 through April 2026:
- 684 publicly known ransomware attacks targeted European organizations in just the first four months of 2026
- This represents a 55% increase over the 441 attacks recorded in the same period of 2025
- It already exceeds the 643 attacks recorded across the entire first half of 2025
- 68.5% of all attacks targeted the five largest European markets: UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain
Smaller countries are seeing even more dramatic surges:
| Country | Attack Increase |
|---|---|
| Turkey | +433% |
| Romania | +333% |
| Poland | +217% |
Who Is Being Targeted
Manufacturing bears the heaviest burden, accounting for over 25% of all attacks from January 2025 through April 2026. Professional, scientific, and technical services — particularly digital services providers — represent 17.8% of victims. Both sectors are prized for their supply chain leverage: compromising one vendor can provide pathways to dozens of downstream clients.
Why Europe, Why Now
Several forces are converging to make Europe the ransomware battleground of 2026:
RaaS ecosystem fragmentation. The takedowns of LockBit and ALPHV/BlackCat in 2024 created a power vacuum. Rather than consolidating, the ransomware ecosystem exploded — the number of tracked active groups has ballooned from roughly 60 in 2023 to over 150 today. More groups competing for victims means higher attack volume across the board.
AI-assisted targeting. Threat actors are increasingly using AI tools to research potential victims, identify high-value targets with weak defenses, and tailor their extortion demands. Europe's largest economies offer a combination of organizational wealth and broad attack surface.
Weaker defenses in peripheral markets. While major EU economies are primary targets for maximum ransom, smaller countries with less mature cybersecurity postures represent easier pickings for lower-tier RaaS operators.
Sectors at Greatest Risk
- Manufacturing — targeted for operational disruption leverage and supply chain access
- Digital services providers — valued as an entry point to downstream client networks
- Healthcare — time-sensitive operations increase pressure to pay
- Financial services — data sensitivity drives extortion risk
The Evolving RaaS Model
The collapse of LockBit and BlackCat did not reduce the overall threat level — it redistributed it. Affiliates from those operations migrated to new platforms or launched independent operations, bringing their technical expertise, victim databases, and negotiation playbooks with them. The result is a more resilient, decentralized ransomware ecosystem that is harder to disrupt through single-actor takedowns.
What Organizations Should Prioritize
- Supply chain due diligence — attack patterns show manufacturers and digital service providers are being targeted as lateral movement vectors
- Backup and recovery hardening — immutable, offline backups remain the most reliable ransomware defense
- Incident response planning — with 150+ active RaaS groups, the question for European organizations is increasingly not if but when
- Threat intelligence subscriptions — understanding which groups are active in your sector and geography enables proactive defense