Malware & Ransomware
Cyber-threat report
This year’s SonicWall cyber-threat report gives helpful information as any cybersecurity report that provides knowledge, which holds important data points that can guide a company on items such as:
- Where to focus your cybersecurity efforts.
- What to include in your cybersecurity posture checklist.
- CIO data for the cybersecurity executive board meeting.
- Essentially, important cybersecurity agenda talking points.
What we’re reviewing today from the report are the changes in malware and ransomware since they are quite important for you to note. Malware and ransomware are high risk cyber threats for your business, which is what gives them priority.
Before we begin, here is the overall view of the report.
Overall Cyber-Threat Report
The overall report shows the top threats from January 2022-June 2022 compared to last year’s numbers and it reveals that in 2022 there have been:
- 1 million ransomware attacks, which is -23% compared to last year.
- 8 billion malware attacks, which is +11% compared to last year.
- 0 trillion intrusion attempts, which is +19% compared to last year.
- 7 million cryptojacking attacks, which is +30% compared to last year.
- 0 million IoT malware, which is +77% compared to last year.
- 9 million encrypted threats, which is +132% compared to last year.
As you can see, encrypted threats and IoT malware have grown exponentially in the last year. This means they are two of the top threats your business faces and that you want to ensure you can protect your data and business processes from.
Malware and Ransomware
When we take a closer look at the malware rebounds rising to 11%, the report specifies that the average malware attempts per customer are of 8,240 attempts. However, malware volume for the month of June is extremely low, at 364.7 million. The last time malware volume was this low was more than two and a half years ago.
Exploring the reason for an increase in malware can take us down many storylines, but the report states that the culprit lies with cryptojacking, which has risen 30%, and with IoT malware, which has grown 77%. When the report analyzed malware by region it has increased and changed course. For example, North America attacks only increased by 2%, while in Europe the volume rose to 29% and in Asia malware increased to 32%. When they broke down country-by-country, the United States saw malware decline to 1%. For the increase in North America, you have to keep Canada and Mexico in the picture, that’s why 2% and not 1%.
When it comes to ransomware, the report shows that attacks have dropped down to 23% due to the geopolitical landscape, volatile cryptocurrency prices and an increase in government and law-enforcement focus, which impacted who cybercriminals chose to attack and how to attack.
Quarter two of 2022 marks the fourth consecutive quarter of decrease and the lowest quarter since late 2020, which is noteworthy because it breaks an established quarterly trend in ransomware. It is the first year since 2018 that ransomware did not increase from Q1 to Q2. Also, Q2 of 2022 is noted because of June’s low ransomware total.
- June recorded only 23.8 million ransomware hits, which is the lowest number in 23 months and down nearly 45% from the already relatively low levels seen the previous month.
In keeping up with the level of attacks and types of threats, you can continue focusing your cybersecurity efforts effectively, while also planning for the unknown. Don’t forget that remote work has created a heightened adaptation of the cloud environment and that cloud security needs its own focus too.
Reach out if we can help your business to prepare, prevent, and be proactive when it comes to your cyber resilient business.
Schedule your free cybersecurity consultation here: https://calendly.com/ncxgroup
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