Ransomware Exploits and Supply Chain Attacks Lead the Cyber Trends in the First Half of 2021

[Tal_Eisner]

Check Point's 2021 Cyber Attack Mid-Year Trends Report reveals:

Global cyber-attacks increased by 29%, as hackers continue to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic and shift to remote work.
Ransomware attacks surged 93% in the last 6 months, fueled by innovation in an attack technique called Triple Extortion.

Key trends revealed in the report include:

• Global increase in cyber-attacks: In 2021, US organizations saw an average of 443 weekly attacks, marking a 17% increase compared to earlier this year. In EMEA, the weekly average of attacks per organization was 777, a 36% increase. APAC organizations saw 1338 weekly attacks, a 13% increase. Specifically within Europe there was an increase of 27% while Latin America saw an increase of 19%.
• The rise of ransomware attacks and ‘Triple Extortion’: Globally, the number of ransomware attacks on organizations increased by 93% in H1 2021, compared to the same period last year. Increasingly, in addition to stealing sensitive data from organizations and threatening to release it publicly unless a payment is made, attackers are now targeting organizations’ customers and/or business partners and demanding ransom from them too.
• Supply chain attacks step up: The well-known SolarWinds supply chain attack stands out in 2021 due to its scale and influence, but other sophisticated supply chain attacks have occurred such as Codecov in April, and most recently Kaseya.
• The race to become Emotet’s successor: Following the botnet’s takedown in January, other malwares are quickly gaining popularity, namely: Trickbot, Dridex, Qbot and IcedID.
• Predictions for H2 2021: Ransomware will grow, despite law enforcement stepping up. Increased use of penetration tools to give live hackers ability to customize attacks on the fly and a trend towards collateral damage well beyond the initial target victim calls for a collateral damage strategy.

https://pages.checkpoint.com/cyber-attack-2021-trends.html