Check Point Research has released its Global Threat Intelligence Report for August 2025, showing that organisations worldwide faced an average of 1,994 cyber-attacks per week. While this marked a 1 per cent decline from July 2025, it represented a 10 per cent increase year-over-year (YoY), reinforcing that the global cyber threat landscape remains at historically high levels.
As per the report, the education sector once again was the most targeted globally, experiencing an average of 4,178 weekly attacks per organisation last month (+13 per cent YoY). This reflects both the sector’s ongoing digitisation, creating a wider attack surface, and its traditionally underfunded cyber security defenses, making it an easy target for threat actors.
Meanwhile, telecommunications companies, vital to both business and consumer connectivity, suffered 2,992 weekly attacks (+28 per cent YoY), highlighting their role as both critical infrastructure and a gateway to downstream targets. Government institutions, a consistent focus for cyber criminals and nation-state actors, recorded 2,634 weekly attacks (+3 per cent), while agriculture faced the most dramatic growth at 101 per cent YoY with 1,667 attacks, underlining attackers’ interest in exploiting global supply chains and food security. The industry’s heavy reliance on technology, internet of thing (IoT) sensors, and drones makes it an attractive target for threat actors.
The report further mentioned that regionally, Africa reported the highest average volume of cyberattacks, at 3,239 weekly per organisation (-3 per cent), while Asia-Pacific (2,877 weekly, +2 per cent YoY) and Latin America (2,865 weekly, +6 per cent YoY) also saw high volumes, driven by rapid digitisation and uneven investment in cyber resilience. Europe’s attacks rose by 13 per cent YoY to 1,685 weekly incidents, and North America stood out with a 20 per cent YoY spike to 1,480 weekly attacks, with ransomware fueling the surge, the U.S. alone accounted for 54 per cent of all ransomware cases worldwide.
Furthermore, ransomware remained an extremely disruptive threat vector, with 531 publicly reported incidents globally in August, up 14 per cent YoY. North America was hit the most, accounting for 57 per cent of reported cases, followed by Europe at 24 per cent. By industry, industrial manufacturing (13.6 per cent), business services (11.9 per cent), and construction and engineering (10.4 per cent) bore the brunt of attacks. Other sectors, including healthcare, consumer goods, and financial services, were also significantly impacted.
Leading ransomware groups included Qilin (16 per cent of attacks), Akira (8 per cent), and Inc. Ransom (6 per cent), the latter notably focusing on healthcare and education, both sectors which are critical to public trust and daily life.
Commenting on the report, Omer Dembinsky, data research manager, Check Point Research, said, “August’s threat data makes one thing clear: cyberattacks are intensifying in both volume and impact. Education, telecoms, and agriculture are being targeted because they are essential and because attackers know disruption here creates maximum leverage. With ransomware rising and artificial intelligence (AI) accelerating attack speed, the only sustainable path forward is a prevention-first, AI-powered strategy. Organisations must move beyond detection to real-time prevention, protecting the network, cloud, endpoints, and identities in an integrated way. Only by doing so can we build resilience and safeguard critical services against relentless cyber adversaries.”
