Released: Symantec Internet Security Threat Report Vol 23
Symantec have recently released their annual Internet Security Threat Report for 2017, one of the most comprehensive reports produced in the cyber security industry each year. Symantec utilises their Global Intelligence Network, which comprises of more than 126.5 million attack sensors, records thousands of threat events every second, and contains over five petabytes of security threat data to collate their yearly findings.
In 2017 Symantec reported that overall targeted attack activity increased by 10% compared to 2016, motivated primarily by intelligence gathering. The trend of “Living off the Land” continued to be prominent with attack groups, as well as Spear Phishing, which reportedly is the number one infection vector employed by 71% of organised groups in 2017. We’ve highlighted some of our other key takeaways from the report below.
Coin-mining attacks
The steep rise in cryptocurrency values during 2017 resulted in an 8500% increase in detections of coinminers on endpoint computers last year. With a particularly low barrier to entry (only a couple lines of code are required to operate) coinminers have been used to steal computer processing power and cloud CPU usage to mine cryptocurrency. This can not only result in performance related issues but also leaves organisations at risk of shutdown from coinminers aggressively propagated across their infrastructure.
IoT devices continue to be a target
IoT devices continue to be targets for exploitation, with a 600% increase in overall IoT attacks in 2017. Cybercriminals are potentially able to exploit the connected nature of these devices to mine cryptocurrency en masse.
Ransomware
In 2016 there was a sharp rise in the number of ransomware families due to its profitability, resulting in a crowded market with overpriced ransom demands. In 2017 we have seen a shift from big score demands to commodity, lowering prices while increasing variants, with the average ransom demand dropping to $522, less than half the average for the previous year. Established ransomware groups have attempted to diversify and there has been a reported 46% increase in the number of variants.
Malware and mobile exploitations
There has been a reported increase in attackers injecting malware implants into the supply chain to infiltrate organisations, with a 200% increase in these attacks.
Mobile malware continues to spread with variants increasing by 54% and an average of 24,000 malicious mobile applications blocked each day. The problem is exacerbated by the use of older operating systems, where users are not updating their software, in particular on Android, only 20% of devices are running the newest major version.
Spear Phishing and BEC
Spear Phishing is the number #1 attack vector, utilised by 71% of the organised adversaries currently tracked by Symantec.
On average 7,710 organisations were hit with BEC attacks each month, the most frequently used words within the email subject line included; payment, urgent, request and attention.
To read the whole report click here.
see our
Related resources
Mimecast recently released its State of Email Security Report for 2021. The fifth edition of its annual report used interviews with over twelve hundred of information technology and cybersecurity professionals across the globe to gather vital cybersecurity insights. The report offers an insight into the latest email threats along with advice on how to build cyber resilience and mitigate the risks of email-borne attacks.
Cyber attacks and data breaches have been commonplace in the news headlines for some time now. Although a warning from the media is certainly helpful, there is so much more that can be done when it comes to threat intelligence sharing. Threat intelligence sharing is an important part of the global cybersecurity community effort to tackle cybercrime and should form a part of every organisation’s cybersecurity strategy. Sharing cyber threat intelligence enables organisations to make informed decisions about their cybersecurity, building more effective and robust cyber defences.
One of my favourite annual reports to read is the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. It’s packed full of insights about the threat landscape and security leaders, in my opinion, should read this report to get a pulse on what’s happening in cyber-scape.
After all, as cyber leaders, we are here to stop breaches – so the insights gained from real cyber incidents and breaches is gold in learning how to tighten up our defences.
All businesses, large and small, are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that they are managing the risk of cyberattacks. This means having the right processes and controls in place to identify risks and vulnerabilities, protect information, as well as detect, respond, and recover in the event of cybersecurity incidents. As such, many businesses are turning to certification authorities and security frameworks to demonstrate privacy and security best practice and achieve compliance with regulatory bodies. System and Organisation Controls (SOC 2) is one such compliance framework that can help organisations to create a structured approach to cybersecurity.
Frost & Sullivan has recently released its 2021 Frost Radar: Email Security report, where its findings provide a benchmarking framework to help businesses protect their email from cyber threats.
As we operate in an increasingly digital world, every business collect, store, and share more and more data. And, amongst that data is personal information. With the OAIC marking this year’s Privacy Awareness Week (PAW) from Monday 3 May to Sunday 9 May 2021, it’s time for us all to review how we protect our customers’ personal information.
We're Here To Help