R ansomware is no longer simply about encrypting data and demanding payment. In 2026, attackers are exploiting identities, edge infrastructure and software vulnerabilities at greater speed, while AI is lowering the skills and time required to launch attacks. As extortion tactics evolve and recovery infrastructure itself becomes a target, security leaders say enterprises must shift their focus from prevention alone towards identity security, exposure management and operational resilience.
Ransomware has not slowed down. It has become faster, more sophisticated and increasingly focused on identities. The latest Sophos State of Ransomware report reveals that 79 % of ransomware attacks now involve an identity-based initial access vector, highlighting how attackers are shifting their focus from simply exploiting technology to targeting users and their credentials.
What makes this more troubling is that MFA alone is not solving the problem. In 59 % of cases, MFA was absent where it was needed, but among victims where compromised credentials were the actual root cause, 97 % had MFA enabled in some form.
According to Harish Chib, Vice President Emerging Markets, Middle East & Africa, Sophos, the failure is not adoption, but inconsistent coverage. Gaps commonly remain around VPNs, firewall administration consoles and legacy applications that fall outside standard rollouts, giving organisations false confidence in their identity defences.
Harish Chib, Vice President Emerging Markets, Middle East & Africa, Sophos
Ransomware is evolving beyond encryption into a broader enterprise extortion threat. As attackers exploit identities, vulnerabilities and AI to move faster, organisations are being forced to rethink prevention, detection and recovery.
Attackers are also targeting gaps in visibility, frequently striking outside normal business hours. At the same time, the ransomware ecosystem itself is becoming more fragmented, with smaller groups emerging as older dominant names lose influence. AI has accelerated attacker efficiency, but has not yet fundamentally reinvented attack techniques.
Morey Haber, Chief Security Advisor at BeyondTrust, said:“ Ransomware in 2026 is increasingly an identity, access, and recovery problem rather than simply another form of malware. Modern ransomware payloads have identifiable indicators
Morey Haber, Chief Security Advisor at BeyondTrust
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