Network Security
Vulnerability Management
Privileged Access Management
Endpoint Security
Threat Hunting
Unified Endpoint Management
Email & Collaboration Security
Contents:
The US (36%) was first on the list of most targeted countries with the UK (24%) and Australia (11%) following it closely according to a recent report regarding the increase of cyber intrusion activities in 2021.
The report was based on the findings of Accenture’s team. The security specialists looked closely at their clients recovering from incidents and attributed the increase in intrusions to web shell activity, ransomware incidents, and supply chain attacks that reported a significant increase since the pandemic behavioral changes started coming into action.
The highest number of attacks among Accenture’s customers were goods and services companies, closely followed by organizations from the manufacturing, banking, and hospitality industries.
Robert Boyce, the head of Accenture’s Cyber Investigations, Forensics & Response business globally, said that it looks like organizations are only protecting their core corporate systems, therefore leaving themselves vulnerable to attacks through third parties and other supply chains they are part of.
Industries that previously experienced lower levels of cyberattacks during the pandemic — such as consumer good & services, industrials, travel & hospitality, and retail — should reevaluate their cybersecurity posture as increased consumer activity in these industries present renewed opportunities for cybercriminals.
Ransomware was the star of the report’s section on malware, with the REvil/Sodinokibi group accounting for 25% of attacks seen by the Accenture team.
The insurance industry customers that are part of Accenture’s portfolio were targeted most often by ransomware groups, and counted for 23% of all ransomware targets, but the consumer goods, services, and telecommunication companies were heavily targeted as well.
The report managed to clearly show the size of the targeted companies as it was found that 54% of all ransomware or extortion victims are companies with annual revenues between $1 billion and $9.9 billion.
The researchers also discovered a concerning fact as it seems that there has been a rise in the number of backdoors, droppers, and credential stealers that malicious actors used in the first half of 2021.
Dora is a digital marketing specialist within Heimdal™ Security. She is a content creator at heart - always curious about technology and passionate about finding out everything there is to know about cybersecurity.
