Whaling attacks, also known as business email compromise (BEC) and CEO fraud, also emerged as a major trend, accounting for $3bn in losses in the US alone in the first six months of 2016.
Trend Micro identified a total of 79 new ransomware families in the first six months of this year, with 58% of ransomware attacks in the first half originating from attachments in spammed emails.
Ransomware is now a prevalent and pervasive threat, with variants designed to attack all levels of the network, the report said.
