New Google report shows a world under attack:
- A new "Ransomware Activity Report" from Google addressed the 80 million ransomware samples uploaded to its VirusTotal site over the last year and a half
- Roughly 150,000 ransomware samples are uploaded and analyzed by VirusTotal each day
- The information from VirusTotal is shared with the security community improve their products
- The report revealed ransomware submissions from 140 different countries around the world as well as 130 different ransomware families active since January 2020
- VirusTotal determined that the Gandcrab ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) was the most common ransomware
- VirusTotal reported "there is a baseline of activity of around 100 not-so-popular ransomware families that never stops"
- Based on the ransomware analyzed, the report said ransomware typically does not take advantage of exploits to breach an organizations defenses, only 5% of the samples examined contained exploits
- The report said "We believe this makes sense given that ransomware samples are usually deployed using social engineering and/or by droppers (small programs designed to install malware). In terms of ransomware distribution attackers don’t appear to need exploits other than for privilege escalation and for malware spreading within internal networks.”
Ransomware hits record-breaking levels in 2021:
- Cybersecurity vendor SonicWall reported 470 million ransomware attacks in the first three quarters of 2021
- This is a 148% increase over the same period last year, giving 2021 the distrinction of the worst year so far for ransomware
- SonicWall scrutinized attempts to compromise their customers and found that each company recorded 1,748 ransomware attacks in the year-to-date
- That’s roughly 10 attacks per business day
- SonicWall said that the 190.4 million attacks they saw in Q3 of 2021 tops the roughly 195.7 million attempts found in the first three quarters of 2020
- They predicted a 134% year-on-year increase by the end of 2021
- “As we see it, ransomware is on a nearly unimaginable upward trend, which poses a major risk to businesses, service providers, governments and everyday citizens” - SonicWall CEO, Bill Conner
- Conner said “The real-world damage caused by these attacks is beyond anecdotal at this point. It’s a serious national and global problem that has already taken a toll on businesses and governments everywhere. I’m hopeful that the recent global ransomware summit is the next step toward a greater response at global, national and state levels"
- US Treasury recently said that ransomware payments made in 2021 are on track to eclipse those paid over the last 10 years!
- SonciWall also reported 3.9 trillion intrusion attempts for 2021
- Ransomware defenses:
- Education and awareness
- Anti-phishing defenses
- Harden systems
- Have a solid backup that you can restore
Per HP study, half of remote workers buy potentially insecure equipment:
- HP's new "Out of Sight and Out of Mind" report is based on a global survey of 1100 IT decision-makers and a poll of more than 8400 home workers in the US, the UK, Mexico, Germany, Australia, Canada, and Japan
- The report warns that of shadow IT issues have risen the pandemic as remote workers bought devices without input from their IT department
- 45% reported that they bought IT equipment to support remote work over the past year
- Unfortunately, 68% said security wasn’t as important as other factors such as price or functionality
- 43% did not new computer checked or installed by IT
- 74% of IT teams claimed to see a rise in the number of employees opening malicious links or attachments in email
- 70% or remote workers who clicked on something malicious said they did not report it
- 79% of IT leaders reported that machine rebuilds increased during the pandemic likely due to a cyberattack or some site
- 2/3rds of IT leaders said that patching remote devices is more time-consuming and challenging leading to up to 52% increase in security relates support costs over the last 12 years
- 83% of leaders claimed home worker security problems have increased the strain on IT employees
- "As IT continues to grow in complexity, security support is becoming unmanageable. For hybrid working to be a success, IT security teams need to be freed from spending hours provisioning and fielding user access requests so they can focus on tasks that add value: said HPs Ian Pratt
- Pratt said "We need a new security architecture that not only protects against known and unknown threats, but that helps to reduce the burden to liberate cybersecurity teams and users alike. By applying the principles of zero trust, organizations can design resilient defenses to keep the business safe and recover quickly in the event of a compromise"