Spanish companies suffered 19% more ransomware attacks in the last year, according to the Zscaler ThreatLabz 2026 Ransomware Report, which places Spain among the continental European countries with the highest growth in this type of incident. This data confirms a trend that has been observed throughout 2026 and compels business owners and infrastructure managers to review their data protection strategies, with cloud backup and data centers in Spain as central components of that defense.
Why are attacks increasing so much in Spain?
According to the Zscaler ThreatLabz 2026 Ransomware Report, the number of Spanish companies falling victim to ransomware grew by 19% year-on-year, reaching 160 cases. This increase is among the highest in continental Europe, second only to Germany (21%). Globally, the volume of exfiltrated data exceeds 896 terabytes, while attackers are increasingly targeting executives and employees with high privileges. This figure adds to a trend already detected months ago: the number of ransomware attacks in Spain rose from 176 to 392 in just one year, and confirmed victims include well-known names such as Endesa and Inditex.
The attack pattern has also changed. Cybercriminals no longer simply encrypt files and demand a ransom; now they steal data before locking it and use it as leverage even if the company pays—a tactic experts call double extortion. Furthermore, the time an attacker remains hidden within a network before activating encryption has been reduced to less than five days in many cases, leaving security teams very little time to react.
The real cost of an attack for an SME
The economic impact is considerable. The average cost of a ransomware incident in Spain now exceeds one and a half million euros, a figure that includes ransom, business downtime, system recovery, and reputational damage. And the target is no longer just large corporations: SMEs are targeted four times more frequently than large organizations, precisely because they have fewer resources to defend themselves. Furthermore, cybercriminals directed most of their campaigns toward small and medium-sized enterprises for much of 2026, according to various industry reports.
What role does cloud backup play in combating ransomware?
Cloud backup is, today, the last line of defense when all other measures fail. A well-managed backup allows you to recover systems without negotiating with attackers or relying on a decryption key that, in many cases, doesn't even work. That's why we emphasize a basic rule: backups must be isolated from the main network, because if the backup is connected, it will also be encrypted.
At AZN Cloud we work precisely in that direction with our Backup Cloud service , which allows you to schedule local and remote backups, encrypt information with different levels of security, and recover data to a specific date in case of an incident, all from infrastructure located in Spain and compliant with current data protection regulations.
Datacenter in Spain: security and regulatory compliance
Hosting backups and workloads in a data center in Spain is not just about performance. It means complying with the European data protection framework without relying on infrastructure outside the European Union, something increasingly valued by companies that manage sensitive information about clients, employees, or suppliers. The combination of a well-sized cloud VPS, automated backup policies, and continuous monitoring significantly reduces the window of vulnerability to attack.
What can your company do from now on?
- Check if current backups are truly isolated from the production network.
- Check the frequency of backups and the real recovery time in the event of an incident.
- Train staff with access to critical systems, the main entry point for ransomware.
- Keep systems updated, as many attacks exploit vulnerabilities that have already been patched.
No company is immune to an attempted attack, but it can decide how much it will cost to recover. Having a reliable cloud backup, hosted in a data center in Spain, makes the difference between losing a few hours of activity and losing the business.
