Many businesses paying a ransomware demand don’t get their data back

• Paying ransom demands has actually become less effective, Veeam study claims
• Ransomware attacks cost businesses millions
• Having alternative infrastructure can reduce downtime

New research has claimed fewer and fewer companies are actually getting their data back after paying ransom demands, making them even more costly when it comes to full recovery.

The survey by Veeam found only one in three (32%) who paid up recovered their data in 2024, compared with more than half (54%) in 2023. On the flip side, the number of organizations recovering their data without paying up has more than doubled (14% to 30%) in the same time period.

However, the impact of ransomware^[1] attacks is being amplified with increased volume, and the fact that the UK government plans to ban ransom payments by public sector and critical national infrastructure organizations.

Recovery from ransomware is not guaranteed

Veeam says nearly two-thirds (63%) are unable to recover from a site-wide crisis because they lack alterative infrastructure options. Outages, which can last weeks, can cost up to £1 million per hour of downtime, the company claims.

In 2025, we’ve already seen a number of high-profile attacks in the UK. M&S and Co-op attacks earlier this year could cost up to £440 million^[2], and a more recent attack on Jaguar Land Rover could be costing £50 million per week^[3].

The report also covers a shift in tactics, with many now bypassing encryption entirely and opting for data theft and extortion. Others simply want to cause disruption, without necessarily focusing on financial gain.

Veeam EMEA GM and SVP Tim Pfaelzer explained that “attackers remain an untrustworthy method of recovering data,” thus overall ransomware payments dropped 22% between 2023 and 2024.

Looking ahead, Pfaelzer stresses the importance of having backup systems in place: “[Businesses] should focus on improving baseline data resilience with alternative infrastructure and robust backups to fully negate the need to ever pay ransoms.”

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