Through a search of publicly available news sources, we identified 30 ransomware incidents in the state of Florida occurring between 2020 and 2024. This is an increase from 18 ransomware incidents between 2016 and 2019 (see Florida Ransomware Incidents 16-19). Ransomware attacks have been on the rise against these targets: government agencies, local emergency services, hospitals, small and medium-sized businesses, and small NGOs. The attacked targets share a number of common features: (1) most targeted entities relied heavily on centralized information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) infrastructures; (2) they were generally not large, high-profile service providers; (3) they did not extensively investigate the incident or seek to attribute or take official action to report or prosecute those responsible; and (4) they typically had sufficient financial resources to pay out a ransom demand.
