IBM ’ s latest X-Force Threat Intelligence Index report reveals that more than 2.9 billion records were leaked Attack.Databreach through publicly disclosed incidents in 2017 . While that sounds horribly bad , there ’ s a bright side to this stormy disclosure : the number is 25 percent lower than the amount of records leaked Attack.Databreach in 2016 . Why ? Because hackers are shifting over to ransomware . They ’ re becoming more focused on holding files hostage for money than on unleashing all that data to the dark markets . According to IBM , this shift to ransomware cost corporations more than $ 8 billion globally during 2017 , a number derived from downtime , ransom payments Attack.Ransom , and other impacts on day-to-day business . The global logistics and transportation industries alone lost “ millions of dollars ” in revenue during 2017 due to ransomware attacks Attack.Ransom . Ransomware is a type of malware that infiltrates a network and encrypts files on connected PCs . These files become unrecoverable , and require a “ key ” generated by the hacker to be released from captivity . These keys are provided after a payment using cryptocurrency , adding to the overall cost corporations incur due to downtime . Hiring a third party to recover the files may or may not work , depending on the level of encryption . “ With the potentially irreversible encryption lock of crypto-ransomware , victims without up-to-date backups often choose to pay the ransom Attack.Ransom their attackers demand Attack.Ransom , ” the report states . “ Losing one ’ s files on personal devices may cost a few hundred dollars , but that effect extends much further for organizations where infected users could cause the company to lose massive amounts of data , and possibly to have to pay Attack.Ransom the criminals considerable sums of money to get it back. ” The report reveals that many organizations keep cryptocurrency on hand so they can resolve the problem quickly and reduce costly downtime . Law enforcement agencies discourage payments Attack.Ransom to hackers , but the rising ransomware “ epidemic ” is getting to the point where it may potentially cost corporations across the globe more than $ 11.5 billion annually by 2019 , according to research by Cybersecurity Ventures . Malware , by contrast , values leaked personal data over the potential financial gain of locking sensitive data on corporate networks .