North America records 18% YoY rise in attacks, Latin America leads globally; Business Services, Consumer Goods, and Manufacturing most impacted sectors by Ransomware as 1 in 44 GenAI prompts poses data exposure risk
Check Point Research, the Threat Intelligence arm of Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), a pioneer and global leader in cyber security solutions, today released its Global Threat Intelligence Report for October 2025, revealing that organisations worldwide each faced an average of 1,938 cyberattacks per week. This represents a 2% increase from September and a 5% rise year-over-year, reflecting a continued escalation in global cyber threats driven by ransomware expansion and risks linked to Generative AI (GenAI).
For the first time this year, Africa was pipped to the post as the most attacked region by Latin America, which averaged 2,966 attacks per organisation per week (+16% YoY). Africa followed with (2,782, –15%) and APAC (2,703, –8%). Europe saw a moderate 4% rise, while North America recorded the steepest increase with 18% year-over-year growth, driven in part by intensified ransomware threats.
Of the four African countries covered in the report, Angola averaged 3,254 attacks per organisation per week (-53% YoY), followed by Kenya at 2,939 attacks per organisation per week (-17% YoY), Nigeria 2,779 attacks per organisation per week (-33% YoY) and South Africa at 1,878 attacks per organisation per week (+9%).
GenAI Adoption Drives New Data Exposure Risks while Education Remains the Top Target
With the enterprise use of Generative AI (GenAI) tools expanding rapidly, Check Point Research identified increasing exposure to sensitive data. In October, 1 in every 44 GenAI prompts submitted from enterprise networks posed a high risk of data leakage, impacting 87% of organisations that use GenAI regularly. An additional 19% of prompts contained potentially sensitive information such as internal communications, customer data, or proprietary code.
These risks coincide with an 8% increase in average daily usage among corporate users. Notably, there’s a relative increase in the exposure of source code and credentials compared to other data types such as PII and financial information. While some usage occurs through managed tools, organisations still average 11 different GenAI tools per month – most of which are likely unsupervised.
The Education sector remained the most targeted globally, averaging 4,470 weekly attacks per organisation (+5% YoY). The Telecommunications industry followed with 2,583 weekly attacks (+2% YoY), while Government institutions faced 2,550 attacks per week (–2% YoY), reflecting ongoing targeting of critical services and data-rich environments. Important to also note the high 40% YoY increase in the Hospitality sector, as we near the holiday season, climbing from 8th to 5th in the top attacked industries this month.
Ransomware Threat Landscape: Activity Spikes 48% Year-over-Year
Ransomware remained one of the most damaging cyber threats, with 801 publicly reported incidents globally in October, marking a 48% YoY increase. North America accounted for 62% of all reported cases, followed by Europe (19%). The United States alone represented 57% of global incidents, followed by Canada (5%) and France (4%).
By industry, Business Services (12%), Consumer Goods & Services (10.5%), and Industrial Manufacturing (10.4%) were the most impacted.
The leading ransomware groups in October were Qilin (22.7%), Akira (8.7%), and Sinobi (7.8%), collectively responsible for nearly 40% of reported attacks.
Omer Dembinsky, Data Research Manager at Check Point Research, says: “October’s data shows that along with the overall number of attacks climbing, the real concern is in the eventual results shown for example in the surge of successful Ransomware attacks. In addition, the risks of data exposure via Generative AI and other means threaten to provide the attackers with additional tools to carry out future attacks. This evolution creates new challenges for defenders. The only effective approach is prevention-first, powered by real-time AI and proactive threat intelligence to block attacks before they cause damage.”
For the full October 2025 Global Threat Intelligence Report and additional insights, visit the Check Point Blog.
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About Check Point Research
Check Point Research provides leading cyber threat intelligence to Check Point Software customers and the greater intelligence community. The research team collects and analyzes global cyber-attack data stored on ThreatCloud to keep hackers at bay, while ensuring all Check Point products are updated with the latest protections. The research team consists of over 100 analysts and researchers cooperating with other security vendors, law enforcement and various CERTs.
About Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (www.checkpoint.com) is a leading protector of digital trust, utilising AI-powered cyber security solutions to safeguard over 100,000 organizations globally. Through its Infinity Platform and an open garden ecosystem, Check Point’s prevention-first approach delivers industry-leading security efficacy while reducing risk. Employing a hybrid mesh network architecture with SASE at its core, the Infinity Platform unifies the management of on-premises, cloud, and workspace environments to offer flexibility, simplicity and scale for enterprises and service providers.
