Cybersecurity threats grow at a rapid pace

Two new security-related reports have reinforced the major online threats posed to businesses of all sizes, with the UK revealed as being the second most targeted country for significant cyberattacks and the astonishing rate of new cyberthreats across the world quantified as 375 per minute in the first quarter of this year.

First, we look at the worrying revelation that the UK is the second most frequent target of ‘serious’ cyberattacks, according to a new report from cybersecurity firm Specops Software.

A ‘serious’ cyberattack is defined as one targeting a country’s government agencies, defence and high-tech companies. It also includes economic crimes that result in losses of a million dollars or more.

Specops analysed data from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and found that the US experienced 156 significant cyberattacks between May 2006 and June 2020, while the UK was infiltrated by 47 within the same period.

India was the third most targeted country, experiencing 23 substantial attacks, whilst Germany experienced 21, and China, Iran and Saudi Arabia were all victims of 15 each.

Specops recommended three key actions that businesses in both the private and public sectors should take to remain secure in times of heightened threats: 

• Always stay up-to-date with the latest anti-virus software and security patches, and change passwords across your network at least once a month
• Regularly carry out diagnostic tests on your IT ecosystem, if you have the knowledge and capabilities to do so, in order to detect any vulnerabilities that could be targeted and exposed
• If you own a business or are a key decision maker within it, develop a formal document that clearly states the company’s cybersecurity policies, providing guidance to employees on what they can and cannot do with the company’s IT systems, networks and devices

Meanwhile, a new report from security firm McAfee, also rang alarm bells, with the company claiming to have seen an average of 375 new cyber threats every minute, whilst the total attack volume had grown by 27% over the past four quarters.

The ‘McAfee COVID-19 Threat Report: July 2020’ report examined the cybercriminal activity related to COVID-19 and the evolution of cyber threats in quarter one of 2020. Unsurprisingly, it concluded that the coronavirus outbreak has proved lucrative for cybercriminals, with malware, ransomware and cryptominer attacks rampant during the first quarter.

“Thus far, the dominant themes of the 2020 threat landscape have been cybercriminal’s quick adaptation to exploit the pandemic and the considerable impact cyberattacks have had,” said Raj Samani, McAfee Fellow and Chief Scientist. 

Other worrying growth areas identified by McAfee included:

• The new PowerShell malware seeing incidences grow by a massive 688% during the quarter
• Mobile malware increasing 71% in the first quarter of 2020, primarily due to Trojans
• New IoT malware rising by 58% over the same period

McAfee claims that hackers focused primarily on industries where availability and integrity are “fundamental” - namely manufacturing, law and construction.

The report concludes by emphasising the importance of “maintaining strong cybersecurity defences regardless of whether employees are in traditional office or home-office environments. We must formulate the right combination of technology and education to make that happen”.

From our point of view, we also highlight the importance of cybersecurity training as part of a cybersecurity planned approach to help detect and contain cybersecurity breaches and limit the risks of being easily targeted, training that needs to be provided to end users as well as the IT crowd.