At this point in 2021, the scale of cybersecurity vulnerabilities that organizations have had to endure throughout this ‘new normal’ period is likely on par with many other hardships they have had to face as a result of the pandemic. But a striking surge in targeted ransomware attacks is highlighting just how damaging these attacks can be, a recent study found.
Crowdstrike’s 2021 Global Threat Report found that one of the major observed behaviors during the pandemic was increased data extortion, where cybercriminals targeted high-value organizations including healthcare organizations with the intention of seizing their data for financial compensation.
56% of the organizations surveyed said they had experienced a ransomware attack last year, and around half of that amount actually paid the ransom, with the average extortion demand estimated to be US$1.1 million. Cybersecurity professionals expressed their increased concern about the mounting risk of a ransomware attack in the months since COVID-19, compared to other security vulnerabilities.
The report highlighted how cybercriminals are now coordinating larger-scale attacks in an organized manner, rather than the prior trend of opportunistic bad actors seizing upon a flaw in the cybersecurity system.
CrowdStrike said that fear, concern, and curiosity surrounding COVID-19 provided the perfect cover for a record-setting increase in social engineering attacks from both e-crime actors and targeted intrusion adversaries. One group dubbed Twisted Spider was responsible for 26 attacks on health care organizations.
“This year’s Global Threat Report was indicative of the unique challenges we faced in 2020. We saw an unprecedented number of threats fuelled by criminal groups looking to exploit the panic and disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, with both eCrime and targeted intrusion adversaries stepping up their e ..
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