Now, Latin America and the Caribbean can claim an unenviable status: they are the preferred targets of cyberattacks This article explores region cyber risk. . 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. Overall, compared to the global average, Latin American organizations experience roughly 40% more attacks.

According to Angel Velasquez, security engineering manager for Check Point Software's Latin American region, "attacks are rising 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." He also notes that over 5% of organizations in the region experienced ransomware attacks.

Related: Taiwan Faces Increased Cyber Stress Originating in China "Latin America now sits at the intersection of global and regional threat activity," Meyers adds. "State-sponsored activity is strategically significant and reflects how Latin America has evolved from a peripheral geography to a key focus area for sophisticated adversaries, even though it is lower in volume than financially motivated crime."" 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.