Since the beginning of the pandemic, the landscape of cyber threats has changed significantly. In March, the number of attacked users increased by 6%, and the number of attacks increased by 35%, compared with the previous month. According to the leading anti-virus expert of Kaspersky Lab Sergey Golovanov, in the current environment, attackers do not stop their activities. The number of attacks by cryptographic programs has also increased compared to February – by 5%. The current news agenda is actively used by cybercriminals for phishing, as well as in conducting targeted attacks.
However, overall the number of malware attacks is decreasing. According to Kaspersky Lab, in the world in 2019 such programs were recorded on the devices of every fifth user, which is 10% less than in 2018. The number of unique malicious resources where infection attempts were blocked was also halved, and the number of such attacks. But at the same time, the number of unique malicious programs is growing – their number has increased by 13%.
Kaspersky Lab says the number of cyberattacks is falling, but their complexity is growing
Among the incidents that Kaspersky Lab experts were involved in responding to, one of the most common reasons for contacting in 2019 was encryption ransomware attacks. About every fourth call was associated with them, and in about half the cases, help was needed due to the detection of suspicious files or network activity. One of the positive trends is that in many cases, appeals occur before the attackers manage to achieve their goals.
In order to penetrate corporate networks, in every third case, attackers conduct attacks on the infrastructure, look for open ports or pick up passwords. Also, infection often occurs through malicious files, either downloaded via the Internet or sent by e-mail. A third of the attacks begins with the use of configuration errors, software vulnerabilities, or infected physical media when attackers infiltrate companies and throw devices.
“We see that the number of threats is decreasing, but they are becoming more sophisticated. This leads to the fact that the level of complexity of the tasks facing security solutions and employees of security departments is growing. In addition, attackers are expanding the geography of successful attacks. So, if some kind of threat helped the attackers achieve their goals in one region, then they will realize it also in another part of the world. To prevent attacks and reduce their number, we recommend training cybersecurity skills for employees at all levels and departments, as well as regularly inventorying services and equipment, ”said Sergey Golovanov, a leading antivirus expert at Kaspersky Lab.
