Ransomware frequency rose 68% year-over-year across the Southeast in the Coalition 2026 Cyber Claims Report. Median ransom demands reached $1.2 million; median settled payments are around $500,000. Healthcare, K-12 schools, and municipal governments continue to be the most frequent targets. Carriers now require immutable backups, hardware MFA on admin accounts, EDR, and documented incident response plans as underwriting prerequisites.





