Leading cause of ransomware infection 2020

Published by Statista Research Department, Nov 28, 2025
This statistic depicts the leading causes of ransomware infections according to MSPs worldwide in 2020. According to the survey, 54 percent of responding MSPs indicated that phishing scams were the most common cause of ransomware infection.

Most common delivery methods and cybersecurity vulnerabilities causing ransomware infections according to MSPs worldwide as of 2020

Cause of ransomware infectionPercentage of respondents
Spam/phishing emails 54%
Poor user practices/gullibility 27%
Lack of cyber security training 26%
Weak passwords/access management 21%
Report clickbait 17%
Malicious websites/web ads 14%
Open RDP access 20%
Lost/stolen user credentials 10%
Lack of funding for IT security solutions 8%
Lack of executive buy-in for adopting security solutions 8%
Showing entries 1 to 10 (10 entries in total)
Created with Highcharts 7.2.2Cause of ransomware infectionPercentage of respondents54%54%27%27%26%26%21%21%17%17%14%14%20%20%10%10%8%8%8%8%Spam/phishing emailsPoor user practices/gullibilityLack of cyber security trainingWeak passwords/access managementReport clickbaitMalicious websites/web adsOpen RDP accessLost/stolen user credentialsLack of funding for IT security solutionsLack of executive buy-in for adoptingsecurity solutions
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%

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Release date

November 2020

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

2020

Number of respondents

1,000+

Special properties

managed services providers

Supplementary notes

Multiple answers were possible. The source does not provide an exact date of survey.

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