Ransomware just had its worst month of the year - why home users should still care

May 2026 was ransomware's fastest-growing month of the year. Check Point Research counted 698 publicly reported attacks worldwide, a 48% jump from a year earlier, with North America taking about half of them and the US alone accounting for 43% of victims.

Most of those hits landed on businesses rather than home PCs - but the fallout reaches everyone. When a hospital, shop or service you use gets encrypted and its data stolen, your personal information can be leaked or sold, and a wave of targeted phishing usually follows. The gangs now tend to steal the data first and encrypt second, so "they have backups" no longer means "everything's fine."

For a home user the lesson is the dull one that keeps working: keep a backup the ransomware can't reach. Follow the 3-2-1 idea (we have a guide on it) - a couple of copies on different media, with one kept offline or in the cloud - so a bad day means restoring your files instead of paying criminals.

Tendvane's one-click Backup copies your Documents, Pictures and Desktop to a drive you choose. Unplug that drive when it's done and you've got the offline copy that ransomware can't touch.