Nearly half of ransomware victims paid the attackers last year, according to Sophos. In its 2025 survey of 3,400 IT pros, 49% admitted to making payments-just below last year's record.

Ransom amounts dropped significantly, with median payments falling 50% and demand amounts down a third. Yet backup usage also hit a six-year low, used by just 54% of firms for recovery.

Attackers often exploited known vulnerabilities (32%) or unknown security gaps (40%), highlighting persistent weaknesses. Sophos noted many companies now accept ransomware as a business risk.

CISA warned that CVE-2024-54085 in AMI MegaRAC firmware is under active exploitation elsewhere. The bug allows attackers to bypass authenticating remotely.

Varonis flagged abuse of Microsoft's Direct Send email feature in a phishing campaign affecting over 70 organisations. Disabling it is advised if not essential.

Rapid7 also found critical vulnerabilities in Brother printers. One flaw rated CVSS 9.8, allows password theft and cannot be patched-users must change defaults.

Finally, Google will roll out new Gemini AI features to Android usersstarting on July 7, even for those with app activity disabled.