Ransomware Recovery Costs in the United States

Ransomware recovery costs in the United States are notably high, with the average attack costing around $2.51 million, according to Sophos. This figure surpasses the global average for ransomware recovery. The overall cost of a data breach in the US reached a record $10.22 million in 2025, a 9% increase from the previous year, making it the highest among all countries for the 15th consecutive year.

While not all breaches involve ransomware, the latter often includes data theft, which contributes to the total cost. Industries like healthcare, manufacturing, financial services, and professional services are particularly affected due to the financial impact of downtime. In Canada, the average data breach costs CA$6.98 million, a 10.4% increase from the year before, despite a global average decline.

About 18% of the total direct cost comes from ransom payments, while the remaining 82% comprises recovery and operational expenses. Alarmingly, 39% of Canadian organizations experienced a reinfection by the same attack after their initial recovery, indicating that budgeting solely for the ransom may be inadequate. Both the US and Canada share similar cost categories, including downtime and lost revenue, incident response and forensics, system restoration and rebuild, legal and regulatory costs, customer and reputational fallout, and higher cyber insurance premiums.

Recovery often takes an extended period, with cybercrime experts estimating that a ransomware attack can cost a mid-sized manufacturer around $1.46 million and require up to 100 days for full recovery. For businesses that rely on continuous operations, even three months of disruption can have a more significant impact than the actual financial costs.

A major reason for the lengthy recovery period is that attackers frequently target admin accounts and backup repositories first, making it challenging to restore the network without risking reinfection.