--- title: Over Half of Retailers Pay Ransom. Here’s the Fix description: Over 50% of retail businesses hit by ransomware now pay—and the stakes have never been higher. Learn how AppGuard’s isolation-based defense helps. image: https://prevent-ransomware.com/hubfs/AdobeStock_214627208.jpeg --- [![CHIPS Cyber Defense Solutions, LLC](https://prevent-ransomware.com/hubfs/chips_blue_logo_higher_res-20210817212617.png) Cyber Defense Solutions, LLC](https://prevent-ransomware.com) ☰ [About](https://prevent-ransomware.com/about) [Solutions](https://prevent-ransomware.com/solutions) [Industries](https://prevent-ransomware.com/industries) [Resources](https://prevent-ransomware.com/resources) [Partner With Us](https://prevent-ransomware.com/meetings/tony-chiappetta/30-minute-initial-meeting) [About](https://prevent-ransomware.com/about) [Solutions](https://prevent-ransomware.com/solutions) [Industries](https://prevent-ransomware.com/industries) [Resources](https://prevent-ransomware.com/resources) [Partner With Us](https://prevent-ransomware.com/meetings/tony-chiappetta/30-minute-initial-meeting) # Over Half of Retailers Pay Ransom. Here’s the Fix ![Tony Chiappetta](https://prevent-ransomware.com/hubfs/Tony%20LinkedIn.jpg) by [Tony Chiappetta](https://prevent-ransomware.com/blog/author/tony-chiappetta) November 18, 2025 In a sobering reminder of how exposed many companies remain to cyber extortion, a recent report shows that **58% of retailers whose data was encrypted paid the ransom** to recover. [Bizcommunity+2SOPHOS+2](https://www.bizcommunity.com/article/more-than-50-of-retailers-hit-by-ransomware-pay-the-ransom-407719a?utm_source=chatgpt.com) According to the **Sophos State of Ransomware in Retail 2025** (as reported by *Bizcommunity*), this is the **second-highest payment rate in five years**. This dramatically highlights a hard truth: even with growing awareness of cyber threats, too many organizations still rely on the risky strategy of *“pay to recover.”* --- ## What the Report Reveals Here are some of the key insights from the Sophos report, according to *Bizcommunity*: 1. **Blind Spots Are Everywhere** - **46%** of ransomware incidents in retail stemmed from *unknown security gaps*. - Limited visibility remains a huge operational vulnerability. 2. **Known Vulnerabilities Still Exploited** - **30%** of the attacks exploited vulnerabilities that security teams already *knew about*. - That tells us it's not just about finding holes—it’s about closing them. 3. **Ransom Payments Are Skyrocketing** - The **median ransom demand doubled to $2 million** in 2025. - The **average ransom paid** also went up—by about 5%, to **$1 million**. 4. **Encryption Rates Are Dropping, But Risk Is Still High** - Surprisingly, only **48%** of attacks resulted in full data encryption—the lowest in five years. - Still, extortion-only attacks (where data is stolen but not encrypted) are rising — adversaries are adapting. 5. **Recovery Is Getting Cheaper—But the Damage Is Real** - Despite high ransom demands, the average cost of recovery (excluding ransom) fell to **$1.65 million**, the lowest in three years. - But that doesn’t erase the business disruption, reputational harm, and operational stress caused by breaches. 6. **Internal Limitations Are Holding Companies Back** - Many retailers cited **limited in-house cybersecurity expertise** (45%) and **gaps in protection coverage** (44%) as key operational drivers of compromise. - Without the right people and tools, even well-resourced businesses struggle to “detect and neutralize” ransomware in time. --- ## Why So Many Retailers Are Paying—and Why That’s a Risky Bet Paying a ransom may look like the only viable option when critical systems are locked down, but it carries serious risks: - **It funds criminal activity.** Every payment encourages more attacks. - **No guarantee of full recovery.** Some victims still don’t recover all their data, or find that data has been stolen or published. - **It doesn’t solve the root problem.** The same vulnerabilities may be exploited again if underlying security gaps remain. In short: relying on *“Detect and Respond”* — where you hope to catch attacks early, stop them, or clean up afterward — is no longer enough. --- ## Isolation and Containment: A Better Defense Strategy So, what’s the alternative? Rather than waiting to detect threats, security needs to *contain* them the moment they arise. This is where **AppGuard** comes in. Unlike traditional antivirus or EDR solutions that focus on detection, AppGuard uses *isolation and containment* to prevent malicious or unknown code from executing in the first place. With a **10-year proven track record**, AppGuard has defended some of the most critical systems in government and enterprise—now it’s available for commercial use. Here’s how it helps: - When ransomware tries to run, AppGuard isolates it, preventing the malware from taking control. - By containing execution, it reduces the attacker’s ability to encrypt data, exfiltrate files, or spread laterally. - This approach eliminates entire classes of attacks without waiting for them to be detected or signatures to be updated. In effect, **AppGuard removes the “pay or pray” gamble** that so many businesses are stuck making today. --- ## What Business Owners Should Do Now 1. **Reconsider your security model.** Shift from a reactive “detect and respond” mindset to a *proactive containment* strategy. 2. **Invest in endpoint protection that isolates threats.** Traditional tools may not be enough against modern ransomware. 3. **Build in continuous visibility.** Unknown gaps are the top operational risk for retailers. 4. **Plan for recovery—but don’t count on payment alone.** Assume that attackers may demand high ransoms, and that paying doesn’t guarantee full recovery. --- ## Call to Action: Talk to Us at CHIPS About AppGuard If you’re a business owner (especially in retail) who’s worried about ransomware—not just from the cost of paying, but from the lasting damage of an attack—**we at CHIPS** want to help. AppGuard is the endpoint protection solution that brings you *isolation and containment*, not just detection. Don’t wait until you’re faced with a crippling ransom demand. Talk to us today about how AppGuard can: - Stop ransomware before it encrypts your data - Contain attacks regardless of their origin - Give you real resilience without relying solely on backups or paying off attackers Let’s build a defense strategy that puts you back in control. [Contact CHIPS now](https://prevent-ransomware.com/getting-started)—and move your business from “detect and respond” to **isolation and containment**. Like this article? Please share it with others! 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