Organizations monitored by security company Check Point faced an average of 2,803 cyberattacks each per week in September, 48% more than a year earlier, according to vendor research published Oct. 8 by the company’s threat intelligence arm, Check Point Research. The figures come from Check Point’s own products and customers, not an industry-wide count. Still, they point the same way on several fronts: more attack attempts, more phishing and more sensitive company data typed into generative AI tools.

What Happened

In its monthly report, “September 2026 Cyber Threat Landscape: Global Attacks Jump 48% as Phishing and GenAI Data Exposure Rise,” Check Point Research said the weekly average rose 16% from August. The average was 2,055 in May, so September’s level is 36% higher than five months earlier.

Education was the most targeted sector, at 6,656 weekly attacks per organization, up 59% from a year earlier and 24% from August. Check Point said the rise coincided with the start of the academic year. Telecommunications followed at 3,483 (up 29%) and government at 3,443 (up 37%).

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Latin America had the highest regional volume, at 3,813 per organization per week. Europe showed the fastest growth, up 61% from a year earlier, and North America rose 50%.

The company counted 824 publicly reported ransomware attacks in September, 53% more than in September 2025. U.S. organizations accounted for 41.9% of victims and North America for 46%. A group called The Gentlemen was behind 13% of published attacks, ahead of Qilin at 9% and Akira at 5%, and 80 other extortion groups also posted victims.

One in 91 emails, or 1.1%, was classified as phishing, up from 1 in 112 in August. North America had the highest regional rate, at 1 in 79, and 81% of phishing emails contained links.

Cybersecurity Insiders reported the findings Monday but gave a 10% month-over-month rise. Check Point’s own report says 16%.

Why It Matters

The generative AI figures give leaders a rare number to put against a risk that is usually discussed in general terms. Check Point said 1 in 39 prompts that employees entered into enterprise generative AI tools (chatbots and similar systems that write text in response to instructions) carried a high risk of leaking sensitive data. That affected 89% of organizations that use such tools regularly. In North America, the rate was 1 in 37. The vendor counted an average of eight AI tools per organization. Network and IT infrastructure details, financial data, and legal and regulatory material were found in risky prompts at 71%, 70% and 68% of organizations, respectively.

For boards, that makes AI-use policy a question of measurable exposure: which tools are approved, what staff may paste into them and whether anyone checks.

The ransomware numbers bear on incident-response planning and disclosure oversight. More than four in 10 claimed victims were American, and business services companies made up 31.3% of victims, which means the exposure can travel to their clients.

Reading the Numbers

Check Point’s attack counts are attempts its products detect at customer organizations, not confirmed breaches, and the blog does not explain how they are measured. The ransomware figures come from the public “shame sites” where extortion groups name victims to pressure them into paying. Check Point acknowledges these sources have inherent biases: they show only victims the criminals chose to publish. The data is best read as one vendor’s view of direction, not a census.

What to Watch

Check Point’s next monthly report will show whether the jumps in education and in Europe persist after the back-to-school period. A more important test is whether independent sources, such as government incident statistics or other security companies’ telemetry, show a comparable rise from a year earlier. Also worth tracking: whether The Gentlemen keeps its lead among ransomware groups, and whether the share of high-risk AI prompts climbs as companies roll out more AI tools.