In 2025, Germany recorded 433 confirmed ransomware attacks, placing it among the three most-affected countries worldwide — behind only the US and Canada. Figures for 2026 show a further increase. What matters more than the raw number, though, is a shift in attack methodology that's far more relevant to defense than the next software patch.

The Way In Is No Longer "an Exploit"

A growing share of ransomware attacks in Germany no longer starts with a sophisticated technical vulnerability, but with perfectly ordinary stolen credentials — harvested by infostealer malware and then traded on underground marketplaces. The attacker doesn't "break in"; they log in normally, using a valid set of credentials.

That fundamentally changes the defense equation: classic perimeter security — firewalls, external vulnerability scans — misses the point entirely once an attacker already holds a genuine, working key.

Encryption Alone No Longer Satisfies Attackers

The "classic" ransomware pattern — pure encryption — is outdated. Today's standard is double extortion: data is stolen first, then encrypted. The threat is no longer just "pay, or your files stay encrypted," but also "pay, or we publish your data."

A perfectly working backup prevents data loss — but not a data leak. Anyone who still believes a good backup plan is enough in 2026 is missing that part.

Why Manufacturing Is Hit Especially Hard

Industry data consistently shows manufacturing as particularly exposed, both in Germany and internationally. That comes down to an unfortunate combination: high willingness to pay when production halts, paired with historically grown IT/OT environments that are often less rigorously segmented than typical office IT.

What Actually Helps

Given the shift toward stolen credentials, the most effective countermeasures shift too:

  • Phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication instead of SMS codes
  • Continuous monitoring for exposed company credentials on underground marketplaces
  • Fast, consistent rotation of compromised credentials as soon as they're identified
  • Network segmentation between IT and OT environments
  • Separate, regularly tested backups — as a complement to prevention, not a substitute for it

Conclusion

In 2026, ransomware less often starts at the perimeter and more often starts in the underground trade of stolen credentials. If your security strategy still focuses primarily on scanning the outer edge for vulnerabilities, you're defending against an entry point that's increasingly no longer the primary one.