--- title: "Time to Ransom is Money" url: https://daily.dev/posts/time-to-ransom-is-money-n67nmklqa source_url: https://www.huntress.com/blog/for-ransomware-time-to-ransom-is-money type: article source: "Huntress Blog" published: 2026-05-31T07:43:42.534Z updated: 2026-05-31T08:45:53.544Z tags: ["ransomware"] reading_time: 8 upvotes: 0 comments: 0 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Time to Ransom is Money **[Huntress Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/huntress-blog)** · 8 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Huntress analyzed ransomware incidents to measure 'time-to-ransom' — the average time from initial access to ransomware deployment. Across incidents, the average was nearly 17 hours, with attackers taking an average of 18 actions beforehand. Some groups like Play and Akira moved in as little as four hours, while others like Phobos and Maze performed 30+ pre-deployment actions. Two real incidents are detailed: a slow INC ransomware attack on a healthcare entity spanning six days, and a fast Akira attack on a tech company completed in roughly one day. Key pre-deployment tactics included LSASS credential dumping, disabling security tools, lateral movement via WMI/RDP, and data exfiltration. The post contrasts the hours-long attack window with the average 24-day business disruption that follows, and recommends offline backups, incident response playbooks, and SIEM deployment as defensive measures. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Faster attacks and ‘recovery denial’ ransomware reshape threat landscape](https://daily.dev/posts/faster-attacks-and-recovery-denial-ransomware-reshape-threat-landscape-7uwla6t2o) · CSO Online · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Every Ransomware Attack Has a Backstory](https://daily.dev/posts/every-ransomware-attack-has-a-backstory-bzo7w3b2j) · Huntress Blog · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ransomware](https://daily.dev/tags/ransomware) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/time-to-ransom-is-money-n67nmklqa)