An analysis conducted in late 2025 by ESET, a leading company in proactive threat detection, highlighted the evolution of ransomware (data kidnapping) as one of trends to watch closely in 2026. This first quarter of the year confirms its importance, and the cybersecurity company analyzes the most attacked industries, which countries were most affected, the situation in Latin America, and the incidence of each group.

Topics of paramount importance and interest to both experts and cautious users who follow these incidents.

According to the ransomware.live report, the three groups that dominated the first quarter of the year were Qilin, The Gentlemen, and Akira, which together accounted for almost 900 victims, representing more than 30% of the total attacks (approximately 2,200).

Qilin ransomware took first place with more than 400 attacks during the quarter. This ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) group, which also held this position last year, took the professionalization of cybercrime to a new level, so to speak, by providing legal counsel to its affiliates to strengthen their leverage during ransom negotiations.

Second place, with almost 250 attacks, went to The Gentlemen. This RaaS group represents a new era: it is moving away from mass attacks to focus on tailored operations. A silent and far more dangerous model, according to ESET, that redefines the rules of the game with targeted and adaptive campaigns.

Akira completed this negative podium, with more than 200 attacks to its name, many in Latin America. Its spread was so widespread that it even put major cybersecurity agencies around the world on alert, including the FBI.

Regarding the industries most affected by ransomware during the first three months of 2026, ESET found the manufacturing, technology, and healthcare sectors to be the most impacted. Following closely behind were business services, construction, and financial services.

“What is clear is that cyber attackers do not choose their victims randomly, but rather seek out organizations where they can generate a strong impact or sense of urgency, whether due to the immediate need to have their systems available, because they cannot afford long operational downtime, or because they handle critical or sensitive information. Ransomware groups continue to focus on economic and reputational impact, targeting industries undergoing digitalization but demonstrating less maturity in cybersecurity,” says Mario Micucci, Cybersecurity Researcher at ESET Latin America.

Internationally, with more than 1,000 attacks recorded, the United States was the country most affected by ransomware during the first quarter of 2026. The countries that followed recorded only 100 attacks or fewer, such as Germany, Great Britain, and France. Canada completed the top five affected countries.

Regarding Latin America, Brazil (50 attacks) and Mexico (30) were the most affected countries, but incidents were also recorded in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Guatemala, Panama, and the Dominican Republic

The first quarter of 2026 confirms the trend that ransomware is not a temporary or declining threat, but a consolidated and constantly evolving phenomenon. “The combination of highly active groups, new emerging actors, and increasingly targeted attacks demonstrates that the model remains profitable for cyber attackers. Looking ahead, the focus should be on how organizations can strengthen their prevention, detection, and response capabilities, especially in critical sectors and regions where cybersecurity maturity still has significant gaps,” concludes Micucci of ESET.

For more information on this topic, please visit: https://www.welivesecurity.com/es/ransomware/actividad-ransomware-primer-trimestre-2026/.

Additionally, for other useful preventative information, visit https://www.eset.com/ve/ in Venezuela, and follow them on social media @eset_ve, Instagram (@esetla), and Facebook (ESET).

With information and image reference ​​provided by ESET and Comstat Rowland

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Digital crimes are a threat to virtually every productive sector worldwide. Just as they empty people’s bank accounts, steal personal data, and impersonate others, hackers are finding new ways to affect sectors such as industry, healthcare, manufacturing, education, telecommunications, and supply chains, among others.

Internet criminals are using increasingly sophisticated methods, including the use of AI that allows for virtually imperceptible impersonation, to breach the protective barriers of individuals and businesses, as well as universities, oil facilities, healthcare centers, manufacturers, and more.

Among the most common attack methods is the introduction of malware into both personal and corporate computers to steal information. But cybercriminals also commit crimes through phishing, asset theft, card cloning at points of sale, malicious applications, and cyberespionage.

Losses from cyberattacks are in the millions. Beyond companies seeing their data exposed or simply losing it to hackers, there’s also the theft of assets, money in bank accounts that ends up in the hands of cybercriminals, data ransom demands, and operational disruption.

Solving all of this comes at a cost. In this sense, some projections of losses from cyberattacks this year point to more than $10.5 trillion.

M.Pino

With information from international media

(Reference image source: Growtika on Unsplash)

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The Mexican Institute of Finance Executives published figures on Monday, December 2, on the country’s economic contraction during the month of November.

According to the private organization, the sectors with the greatest stagnation are manufacturing and services.

“The IMEF Manufacturing indicator increased 1.1 points in November compared to the previous month, to stand at 48.3 units, the eighth consecutive month in a contraction zone, the private organization reported in a statement.”

In contrast, the IMEF Non-Manufacturing indicator increased 1.2 points last month, standing at 50.5 units.

Despite this slight increase compared to the month of October, both indicators continue to be low. The IMEF considers a strong “absence of dynamism and, therefore, of the possibility that the economy closes the year with a moderate expansion.”

Regarding the growth projections for 2025, the Government of Mexico places the local economy between 2.0 and 3.0% “within the economic package that it submitted to Congress for analysis on November 15.”

M.Pino

Source: spanish.news.cn

(Reference image source: Getty Images for Unsplash+)

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The Government of Venezuela proposed to the government of Qatar the possibility of working on several projects formulated by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in order to develop and strengthen the country’s agro-industrial sector, for which financing is required.

The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry reported through a statement that in a meeting held between Rubén Darío Molina, Vice Minister for Multilateral Issues of Venezuela, and Rashid Fetais, Qatari ambassador in Caracas, who addressed the issue of the UNIDO projects.

According to information from the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNIDO is “developing technical cooperation activities in the Caribbean nation in the agricultural and agro-industrial area, within the framework of the Venezuela Country Program 2018-2024, signed in May 2018”.

UNIDO recently notified that it will carry out three pilot projects in Venezuela, whose purpose is to develop the production of agricultural inputs.

The three pilot projects that the international organization will develop in the Caribbean country are linked to the manufacture of agricultural materials through the “technological update of a biocontrol laboratory, the production of biological inputs for soil improvement, and the evaluation of water-soluble fertilizer.”

Both countries maintain cooperation agreements in different sectors such as sports, trade, customs, industrial, oil and are now including in the agricultural and industrial portfolio.

M. Rodríguez

Source: visionagropecuaria.com

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Microsoft discontinued the Xbox One console, launched in 2013, in order to boost manufacturing of its next-generation hardware, Xbox Series X/S, after ceasing production of the Xbox One X models and the One S digital edition in July of 2020.

The senior director of Xbox Product Marketing, Cindy Walker, confirmed the change in strategy with which the company created by Bill Gates seeks to focus its efforts on the production of new models.

“To focus on Xbox Series X/S production, we stopped production of all Xbox One consoles at the end of 2020,” Walker said.

In July 2020, the company announced its decision to end production of the Xbox One X and the Xbox One S Digital Edition, ahead of the arrival of its next-generation hardware. So only Xbox One S remained.

This information follows Sony’s recent announcement. The Japanese technology company confirmed, according to Bloomberg, that it will face the shortage of components dedicated to the manufacture of its newest console, PlayStation 5, increasing the production of PlayStation 4 during 2022.

K. Tovar

Source: Esports

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The company Strategy Analytics in its latest study determined that the companies Samsung and Apple are in a fervent struggle to occupy the first place in the distribution and sale of smartphones in North America.

The figures reveal that the producers of the iPhone have shown an important change, managing to significantly increase the volume of their shipments and reducing the existing gap with the South Koreans.

The Asians, with their Galaxy family, hold the first place with 38 % of the North American market, while Apple has 37 %, maintaining the same classification for the first half of the year.

The numbers from Strategy Analytics show that the companies Samsung, Apple, Motorola, Alcatel and Blu are fighting for leadership in sales. However, both Samsung and Apple are the strongest competitors. When comparing the information with the same 12-month period, the Apple company obtained a growth of 5 percentage points.

South Koreans generally maintain a large margin of advantage in their volume of shipments, which does not necessarily means that in the end they obtain the highest financial gains. But, apparently Apple was also on the verge of reaching them in that area if it were not for the “global crisis of shortage of components that we are experiencing today,” the company said.

The firm’s analysis considers that “LG’s exit from the market would have been the key factor in reconfiguring the current configuration.”

M. Rodríguez

Source: fayerwayer.com

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Carmaker Daimler plans to put away combustion engines and focus on electromobility. The business group explained that it aims to gradually produce all Mercedes-Benz brand vehicles under the motto “Electric only”.

The automaker has proposed that, by 2025, 50 % of Mercedes sales correspond to fully electric cars or cars with a plug-in system, double than previously expected.

It also announced that it is preparing to make its brand of cars “fully electric” by the end of the decade and that it plans to invest more than 40,000 million euros (47,125 million dollars) in the manufacture of vehicles with electric battery between 2022 and 2030.

Likewise, all the technical bases to produce the various series will respond to electrical technology as of 2025, so that by that time customers will be able to opt for a fully electric alternative for each Mercedes-Benz model.

In view of the new positioning, Daimler now also wants to produce battery cells on a larger scale together with other companies. The company and its partners plan to build eight mega-factories around the world for the production of cells with a total capacity of more than 200 gigawatt hours.

Until now, Daimler had rejected large-scale independent cell production and relied on suppliers. The planned battery cell factories will complement a network of nine plants that assemble battery systems from these cells.

Daimler reported that the next generation of batteries will be highly standardized and will be used in more than 90 % of all future Mercedes-Benz brand cars.

Source: dpa

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The industry of processor manufacturing companies, among which is the US company specializing in mobile chips Qualcomm, have warned about a shortage of semiconductor supplies that could slow down the production of electronic devices around the world.

The CEO of Qualcomm, Cristiano Amon, presented the economic results of the company last Friday and warned of a marked shortage “in all areas”, as the analyst Bloomberg has collected.

This lack of supply originates from the manufacturing industry’s dependence on a small number of semiconductor suppliers from Asia, especially Taiwan, such as TSMC, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

Currently, the high demand for processors by technology companies, such as mobile manufacturers, is already causing supply problems for other manufacturers such as vehicle manufacturers, which reduced their demand with the onset of the pandemic and are now experiencing difficulties to get components.

The global shortage of semiconductors is among the causes of a 20 % reduction in the production of several General Motors and Ford plants in the United States, announced by the American company this month. However, the lack of supplies may also affect the rest of the manufacturing industries, beyond vehicles, as warned by companies in the sector such as the European NXP Semiconductors NV and Infineon Technologies AG.

Source: dpa

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