August 2026 saw ransomware attacks nearly double and GenAI-related data leaks become a daily threat for enterprises, with Africa and Latin America hit hardest and phishing rates climbing across sectors.
Ransomware attacks exploded in August 2026, nearly doubling compared to the previous year and pushing global cyber risk to new heights. Enterprises are now battling not just relentless extortion campaigns but also a surge in data leaks driven by unchecked GenAI adoption-an emerging threat that is already reshaping the security agenda.
Check Point Research's latest threat intelligence paints a stark picture: organisations worldwide endured an average of 2,422 cyber attacks per week, a 22% year-on-year jump. The escalation is not evenly distributed. Latin America topped the charts with 3,577 weekly attacks per organisation, while Africa followed closely at 3,335-both far above the global mean. Angola and Nigeria, in particular, saw attack volumes soar by 47% and 45% respectively, dwarfing the global trend and exposing the region's critical infrastructure to unprecedented risk.
Business Services bore the brunt of ransomware, accounting for 36% of reported incidents. Industrial Manufacturing and Consumer Goods trailed behind, but the message is clear: attackers are targeting the linchpins of supply chains, aiming for maximum downstream disruption. The ransomware landscape itself is shifting rapidly, with Qilin leading the charge at 15% of published attacks, The Gentlemen at 10%, and Orova muscling into the top three for the first time. This volatility means defenders cannot afford to chase yesterday's threats.
Phishing is also on the rise, with one in every 112 emails flagged as malicious-up from one in 128 just a month earlier. Attackers are exploiting the ease of embedding links, which now appear in 72% of phishing emails, to scale their campaigns and pivot tactics at speed. Sectors like Associations and Nonprofits, as well as Construction and Engineering, are especially vulnerable due to their reliance on external communications and frequent partner interactions.
GenAI is rapidly becoming a double-edged sword for enterprises. While high-risk prompts-those likely to expose sensitive data-dropped to one in every 43, overall GenAI usage soared. The average user generated 106 prompts in August, up from 95 in July. Alarmingly, 86% of organisations using GenAI regularly encountered high-risk prompt activity, and the average company deployed seven different AI tools. Healthcare and Medical sectors faced the highest exposure rates, with 4% of prompts risking data leaks, followed by Software and Business Services. Latin America again led regional exposure at 3.5%, well above the global average of 2.3%.
Education remains the global epicenter of cyber attacks, with 5,354 weekly incidents per organisation-a 28% annual increase. Government and Hospitality sectors are not far behind, the latter seeing a 56% surge as attackers exploit the summer travel boom and the sector's sprawling digital footprint. In Africa, the Energy & Utilities sector is under siege, a fact that Lorna Hardie, Regional Director: Africa for Check Point Software, calls a "red flag" for national economic stability.
Hardie warns that fragmented defences are no longer viable: "With attacks climbing, ransomware accelerating, phishing remaining a common entry point and GenAI creating a new route for data exposure, security teams cannot rely on fragmented defences. They need a prevention-first protection approach that combines visibility, control and automation across network, cloud, endpoint, email and AI usage to stop threats before they disrupt operations or expose sensitive information."
The operational consequences are already visible. Organisations are scrambling to implement unified security controls, but the pace of attack innovation is outstripping most prevention efforts. The lack of visibility into GenAI data flows, in particular, is creating blind spots that attackers are eager to exploit. The recent reported breach at Manchester Airports Group underscores how quickly a single vulnerability can spiral into a major incident with far-reaching consequences.
What's unfolding is not a temporary spike but a structural shift in the threat landscape. Attackers are adapting faster than most defenders, leveraging automation, AI, and social engineering to bypass legacy controls. The sectors and regions hit hardest-Africa's energy grid, Latin America's enterprises, global education and healthcare-are those with the most to lose and the least margin for error. Until organisations move decisively from reactive detection to proactive, prevention-first security, the numbers will keep climbing and the cost of inaction will only grow. The era of fragmented, piecemeal defences is over; only those who adapt their strategies to this new reality will avoid becoming the next headline.
