As Qilin marked its 700th ransomware attack of 2025, the group further cemented its position as the most prolific ransomware operator in recent years. Comparitech notes that only ten months into the year, Qilin has already surpassed last year’s leading strain, RansomHub, which claimed 547 victims across 2024. The gang’s primary targets include manufacturers, financial firms, retailers, healthcare providers, and government agencies, critical sectors where system encryption or data theft can cause severe disruption and put data subjects at risk.
“Qilin is a Russia-based group that first appeared in 2022, but it only really started to gain traction in 2023 when it made 45 attack claims. In 2024, its victim count rose to 179 before quadrupling this year,” Rebecca Moody, Comparitech’s head of data research, wrote in a blog post last week. “Part of Qilin’s recent onslaught of attacks could be attributed to its ransomware-as-a-service business model. Under a RaaS scheme, third-party affiliates pay to use Qilin’s malware and infrastructure to carry out attacks and collect ransoms.”
She noted that after RansomHub went dark in April 2025, its affiliates are rumored to have flocked to Qilin. “This coincided with a 280 percent jump in attack claims, from 185 at the end of April 2025 to 701 now.”
Since its emergence in 2022, Qilin has been linked to 926 attacks, with 168 confirmed. Across the confirmed incidents, 2,302,433 records have been breached. The group has carried out 53 attacks on government entities, confirming 31, and 31 attacks on the education sector, confirming 7. Healthcare providers have been targeted 69 times, with 28 confirmed attacks. Businesses account for 773 attacks, with 102 confirmed.
So far this year, Qilin has claimed 701 victims, with 118 attacks confirmed. The group has struck healthcare providers 45 times, confirming 14 incidents, government entities 40 times with 22 confirmed, and the education sector 26 times with 7 confirmed. Businesses remain the primary target, accounting for 590 attacks and 75 confirmed, including 143 against manufacturers, 108 against service-based companies, 69 targeting finance firms, 50 involving retailers, and 34 affecting construction companies.
Year-over-year, education has seen the steepest rise in activity at 420%, followed by government agencies at 344% and businesses at 307%, while healthcare has registered the smallest increase at 125%. Across confirmed attacks, 788,377 records have been breached. In total, Qilin has stolen 116 terabytes of data, 47 terabytes of which are linked to confirmed incidents. The U.S. has seen the highest volume of attacks at 375, followed by France with 41, Canada with 39, South Korea with 33, and Spain with 26.
In 2025 so far, there have been 590 attacks on businesses, with 75 confirmed. Across the confirmed incidents, 184,000 records have been breached. In total, 92 terabytes of data have been stolen, including 28 terabytes tied to confirmed attacks.
“Manufacturers are Qilin’s favorite target,” Moody detailed. “Prime examples are Qilin’s attacks on Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings and France’s Alu Perpignan last month. Asahi continues to struggle to restore its systems. Alu Perpignan recently revealed that, after shutting down computer systems for three weeks, it lost three months’ worth of business.”
She added that the attacks on manufacturers can also lead to data breaches. While not often as vast as breaches in other sectors, such as the healthcare sector, they can still have serious consequences. For example, Qilin recently claimed an attack on Nissan’s design agency, Nissan Creative Box. Qilin says it stole more than 4 TB of data, including design data that could lead to product information being leaked and Nissan’s business strategy being interrupted/impeded by competitors.
From January 2025 to the present, researchers have observed 40 attacks on government agencies, with 22 of those incidents confirmed. Across all of these attacks, 9.8 terabytes of data have been stolen, including 8.1 terabytes tied to confirmed cases.
Moody detailed that Qilin’s attacks on government entities appear to have increased over the last month or so, with seven of its confirmed attacks taking place in September and October.
“Among these are three US agencies (Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, the Town of Waxhaw, and Lakehaven Water & Sewer District), three French agencies (Ville de Saint-Claude, Region Hauts-de-France, and Commune d’Elne), and public utility company, N.V. ELMAR in Aruba,” Moody added.
System encryption and data theft are cited in most of these cases. For example, in the case of the Region Hauts-de-France, 80 percent of the region’s high schools were affected by system disruptions. Qilin said it stole 1.1 TB of data from the schools.
In 2025 so far, there have been 45 attacks on healthcare providers, with 14 confirmed. Across the confirmed incidents, more than 596,000 records have been breached. In total, 11.8 terabytes of data have been stolen, including 10.1 terabytes linked to confirmed attacks.
Just over half of Qilin’s confirmed attacks on healthcare providers (8) are in the US. But its biggest breach (by data affected) was on Japan’s Utsunomiya Central Clinic, where 300,000 people were affected. Recently, Qilin took credit for stealing a whopping 8 TB of data from the Shamir Medical Center in Israel. Reports said Qilin demanded $700,000 in exchange for deleting the data.
Qilin does not typically disclose its ransom demands when claiming attacks, so available data is limited. In 2025, several demands have been reported. In March, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd was targeted at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, causing system disruptions and the alleged theft of 2 terabytes of data. Qilin reportedly demanded $10 million, which the airport refused to pay.
In late February, the Cleveland Municipal Court in the U.S. faced weeks of disruption following a Qilin attack, with the group rumored to have demanded $4 million for stolen data; the court did not pay. Ciudad Autónoma de Melilla in Spain was hit in June, resulting in widespread disruption and the alleged theft of 4 to 5 terabytes of data; Qilin demanded $2.12 million, which the city refused to pay.
Shamir Medical Center in Israel reportedly had 8 terabytes of data stolen, with Qilin demanding $700,000 for its deletion. In April, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office in the U.S. was attacked, and although Qilin demanded $300,000, the office refused to pay; restoring systems through an external cybersecurity company ultimately cost $48,000.
“The only other ransom demand we’re aware of from Qilin came in 2024,” Moody wrote. “Here, a staggering $50 million was demanded from U.K.-based Synnovis. While the healthcare company refused to pay the ransom, the attack incurred around £33 million (USD $44 million) in costs and led to a data breach involving 900,000 people.”
Last week, a new Trellix report outlined an evolving threat landscape fueled by AI adoption, insider threats, and critical vulnerability exploitation. It reveals an increase in the adoption of AI-powered malware and tools by cybercriminals compared to previous quarters, as well as notable shifts in the threat landscape driven by geopolitical tensions and disruptive ransomware attacks. The report also highlights the convergence of nation-state operations and financially motivated campaigns, with the speed and breadth of attacks increasing across sectors.
