Brazil enters the global ransomware top 10 in June 2026

Brazil ranked as the third most-affected country by ransomware in June 2026, according to data compiled by Ransomware.live, the platform maintained by researcher Julien Mousqueton. Roughly 23 victims were recorded during the period, trailing only the United States (199 cases) and Germany (49). It is the first time the country has appeared among the ten most-affected nations since the series began publishing in January of this year.

Brazil’s jump came in a month of mild global decline: the total number of disclosed victims fell from 791 in May to 708 in June, a 10.5% drop. In other words, even with fewer attacks worldwide, Brazil’s share grew enough to push the country into the leading group.

Why it matters

Brazil breaking into the top 10 is not an isolated statistic. It signals that ransomware groups, which operate on economic logic, now view Brazilian organizations as targets with a good payoff. That usually reflects a mix of exposed attack surface, incident-response processes still maturing, and sensitive data with extortion value.

For companies in Brazil and Latin America, the message is plain: the odds of being targeted have risen. These figures count victims published on leak sites, which is only part of the real picture, negotiated or undisclosed cases are left out. The practical risk spans operational downtime, double extortion (encryption plus data leak), and legal obligations under Brazil’s LGPD when personal data is exposed.

What to do

• Keep isolated, immutable backups with periodically tested restores, so recovery never depends on paying a ransom.
• Shrink the entry surface: phishing-resistant MFA, fast patching of exposed services, and network segmentation to contain lateral movement.
• Watch for pre-attack signals such as anomalous access, exfiltration tooling, and credential misuse, using continuous detection and response.
• Maintain a written, rehearsed incident-response plan covering communications, legal aspects, and decision criteria under pressure.