Cyberattacks escalating in Romania: 353% increase in compromised accounts and ransomware incidents up by 153% - Business Review
Cyberattacks in Romania have escalated dramatically, with compromised accounts increasing by 353% and ransomware incidents rising by 153% between 2025 and 2026.
The rapid transformation of cyber risk is extending beyond IT departments and becoming a direct threat to business continuity and performance. As companies increasingly rely on suppliers, cloud platforms and interconnected digital infrastructures, a single incident can trigger a chain reaction affecting customers, partners and suppliers. Romania is following global trends with alarming increases in various cyber threats.
Escalating Threats
In 2025, 22,052 incidents were reported globally, including 12,195 confirmed breaches across 139 countries. In Europe, DDoS attacks accounted for approximately 77% of incidents analyzed by ENISA, while ransomware remained the most impactful threat. During the first four months of 2026, ransomware incidents in Europe increased by 55.1% compared to the same period in 2025.
Romania reported over 25 million security events between 2025 and 2026, with phishing attacks rising 70.6%. Notably, 42% of incidents in the first half of 2026 were associated with phone scams and social engineering techniques, highlighting the sophisticated exploitation of human vulnerabilities.
Cyber risk can no longer be viewed as an exclusively technical issue. A company may have well-protected systems and still be vulnerable through a supplier, a cloud service or the compromise of an employee's identity. For business leaders, the key question is now how quickly they can continue operating when an essential element of their ecosystem becomes unavailable.
Business Impact
Ransomware remains one of the most severe threats, involved in 44% of breaches in 2025, up from 32% in the previous year. For small and medium-sized businesses, ransomware and Business Email Compromise account for more than half of all claims, with the average incident cost reaching USD 264,000 – a 30% increase from the previous year.
The financial impact extends beyond direct losses to include production disruptions, lost sales, system restoration costs, and damage to customer relationships. Globally, the average data breach cost is estimated at USD 4.99 million in 2026, up 12% from the previous year. Third-party risks have also increased, with breaches involving suppliers rising from 15% to 30%.
Cyber resilience starts with understanding a company's actual exposure and how an incident could spread across its operations. Companies need to assess not only their own systems, but also their dependencies on suppliers, infrastructure and essential digital services.
Resilience Strategy
The evolving cyber landscape requires businesses to shift from prevention to maintaining operations during attacks. This integrated approach includes assessing cyber maturity, analyzing supplier dependencies, preparing incident response procedures, and developing business continuity plans.
Cyber insurance is becoming a complementary tool alongside prevention measures, covering incident response costs, system recovery, and business interruption losses. Companies must test their continuity plans before incidents occur rather than developing them during crises.
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