In an interesting turn of events, malware cyberattacks are down but there is a catch that involves cybersecurity criminals shifting focus.
Malware cyber attacks are down but there is a catch, they have become more focused.
Here are some interesting statistics to consider:
- Decrease of 39 percent over the last quarter as cyber attackers have moved to targeted approach.
- Increase of 40 percent in global ransomware
- Increase of 19 percent increase in intrusion attempts
- Increase of 30 percent rise in internet of things (IoT) malware.
- India showed a decrease of 68 percent in malware attacks.
- Germany showed a decrease of 64 percent in malware attacks.
- UK showed a decrease of 44 percent in malware attacks.
- US experienced 145.2 million ransomware hits from hackers in one quarter
- US is experiencing an increase of 139 percent year-on-year increase.
A third (33.7 percent) of all ransomware attacks this year were accounted for by the Ryuk malware. Through Q3 2019, SonicWall detected just 5,123 Ryuk attacks, but Q3 2020 saw the detection of 67.3 million Ryuk attacks.
Ryuk ransomware is the new kids on the block as it was discovered in August 2018 however it made significant gains in popularity in 2020. With work-from-home (WFH) including the increase of remote and mobile workforces, there appears to a large security gap resulting not only in financial losses but also impacting healthcare services with attacks on hospitals and other healthcare facilities.
Ryuk ransomware is especially dangerous because it is targeted and a multistage cyberattack. The general rule from cybersecurity professionals is if an organization has Ryuk, they most likely have several other types of malware.
The study also finds a 30 percent increase in IoT malware attacks, a total of 32.4 million worldwide. This is put down to attackers trying to use the devices as entry points to attack networks being used by the flood of home workers.
You can see updates on the Ryuk ransomware for The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security. Cyber Centre is Canada’s national authority on cybersecurity and response to cybersecurity events. Their Canadian national computer security incident response team works with government departments, critical infrastructure, Canadian businesses, and international partners. Their mandate is to prepare for, respond to, mitigate, and recover from cyber events using industry authoritative advice and support in cybersecurity incident response.
Malware cyberattacks are down but there is a catch so how can I protect myself against Ryuk?
The first step in protecting against any ransomware attack is to ensure you are using a managed next-generation anti-virus with built-in Artificial Intelligence (AI). This will offer your organization real-time protection designed to stop advanced malware attacks such as ransomware.
The second step is to ensure you have secure backups of your data on a regular basis with high-level encryption and multi-factor authentication.
The third step is to ensure your IT department or managed IT Services provider ensures your systems and software are updated regularly.
Not sure where to start? Contact BrickHost today!
