Good day. The cost of cyberattacks and the frequency of ransomware strikes continued to rise last year, according to a pair of closely watched reports released Wednesday.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center said it tallied 859,532 reports last year. Of these, 256,256 resulted in a combined $16.6 billion in financial losses, up 33% from the previous year. The average loss in 2024 was $19,372, the agency said.     

Phishing, extortion and personal data breaches were the most common modes of attack, the FBI said. Among U.S. states, California logged the most complaints, at 96,265, followed by Texas and Florida. The FBI also fielded 102,692 reports from the U.K., the highest contributor outside of the U.S., followed by Canada with 6,951 complaints and India with 4,189.

Verizon Communications, which published the 2025 edition of its Data Breach Investigations Report, said ransomware was present in 44% of the 12,195 breaches it reviewed. That is a 37% increase from 2023.

The FBI said the rise in complaints was “concerning” given its focus on cybercrime in the past year.

Also today:

• FBI raid chills Chinese scientific community.
• Program cuts strike cyber initiatives.
• Experts warn states not ready to take lead in cyber.

Judges Defer Spyware Case. The Supreme Court of India on Tuesday deferred to April 29 a hearing on petitions seeking a probe into the alleged unauthorized use of Pegasus spyware for the surveillance of politicians, journalists, activists and others. A bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice N Kotiswar Singh deferred the hearing for want of time. (Tribune of India)

Security Experts Unconvinced by Trump State Cyber EO. Many states aren’t ready to take on the burden of fully protecting themselves from hackers, experts say, following a memo from President Trump directing incident response to be handled at a local level. Just 22 out of 48 states that responded to a federal survey said their cybersecurity reached or surpassed the recommended security level in their systems. (Ohio Capital Journal)

• Read more: Some states already have strong cyber defenses. Not all can afford them. (WSJ)

The WSJ Pro Cybersecurity team is Deputy Editor Kim S. Nash (on X @knash99), reporters James Rundle, Catherine Stupp (@catstupp) and Angus Loten. Follow us on X @WSJCyber. Reach the team by replying to any newsletter you receive or by emailing Kim at kim.nash@wsj.com.