New research from McAfee Labs Threat Report claims the volume of cyber threats found every second doubled between Q3 and Q4 2017, proving cybercriminals have no intention of slowing down anytime soon.
Among other things, the report found that in 2017 ransomware attacks spiked by 59% compared to 2016, with a 35% increase in Q4 alone. This activity included new tactics by cybercriminals devised to create “smoke and mirrors” by distracting defenders from actual attacks, like pseudo-ransomware seen in the NotPetya attack. Check out NNT’s new Ransomware Mitigation Kit here.
Additionally, in 2017, McAfee saw PowerShell malware increase by 432% and 267% alone in Q4. Unsurprisingly, in 2017 the healthcare industry saw a 210% increase in publicly disclosed cyber incidents, however, they did see a 78% decrease in Q4. The research claims that the vast majority of these cyber incidents were caused by failures to comply with security best practices or to address vulnerabilities in medical software.
It’s no surprise that cyber attackers continue to target healthcare organizations. These organizations time and time again prove to have poor security measures in place but store highly sensitive patient records that present an easy win for attackers.
However, cybercriminals are always looking to combine highest returns in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of risk. That’s why they’ve increasingly turned their attention to crypto mining and hijacking Monero and Bitcoin wallets, as these present an easy way for hackers to make more money hassle-free.
Read the article on InfoSecurity Magazine
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