Now, Latin America and the Caribbean can claim an unenviable status: they are the preferred targets of cyberattacks This article explores american region ransomware. . According to the most recent data from Check Point Research, organizations in Latin America experienced an average of 3,065 attacks per week last year, a 26% increase year over year, surpassing Africa as the top geographic region for cyber-risk.

Information disclosure attacks affected about three-quarters (76%) of organizations, and most also experienced remote code execution and authentication bypass attempts. According to Angel Velasquez, security engineering manager for Check Point Software's Latin American region, ransomware attacks also affected more than 5% of the region's businesses.

According to him, "attacks are increasing due to a shift toward data-leak extortion ... [a] surge in credential-stealing campaigns, increased exploitation of edge devices, and the growing use of AI by attackers." Related: Taiwan Sustains Increased Cyber Stress Originating in China "While state-sponsored activity is lower in volume than financially motivated crime, it's strategically significant and reflects how Latin America has evolved from a peripheral geography to a key focus area for sophisticated adversaries." According to Meyers, "Latin America now sits at the intersection of global and regional threat activity."

According to the Check Point report, businesses in the area are experiencing cyber-risks even as they benefit from AI.

Risky prompts were seen by 91% of organizations using generative AI tools, with 25% of prompts containing potentially sensitive data and roughly 3% of prompts posing a risk of leaking sensitive data. "Improving ransomware resilience and enforcing generative AI (GenAI) governance controls will remain critical priorities for reducing operational and data exposure risk as organizations enter 2026," the company stated.