New malware attacks have seen a huge rise in recent months
This past summer, between June and August, BlackBerry saw a 70% increase in new malware.
These are the findings of the latest Quarterly Global Threat Intelligence Report, a research paper that the company based on its AI-powered cybersecurity solution.
According to the report, BlackBerry stopped more than 3.3 million attacks this quarter, which equates to approximately 26 attacks and 2.9 unique malware samples per minute.
Expanding volume
The most popular targets among cybercriminals are financial and healthcare organizations, mainly due to the high value of the data and the ability of hackers to disrupt essential services.
The financial sector was attacked most often this quarter, followed by healthcare institutions.
Of all the new malware variants discovered by BlackBerry, the most unique examples were observed in the United States, followed by Japan, South Korea, India and Canada.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, ransomware groups made up the majority of threat actors analyzed in the report, with LockBit, Cl0p, Cuba and ALPHV all increasingly using double extortion tactics as insurance against attacks.
“Malicious actors are working harder than ever to expand their reach and volume of cyberattacks,” said Ismael Valenzuela, Vice President of Threat Research and Intelligence, BlackBerry.
“The increasing number of new attacks targeting countries and industries demonstrates the impact of the macroeconomic environment on cybersecurity. While threats are increasing in number and diversity, so is our ability to defend against them with advanced technologies that predict and prevent attacks.”
Ransomware has become quite a pandemic, with most organizations either having suffered an attack in the past or expecting one in the near future. With the help of AI-powered chatbots, even poorly trained threat actors can craft credible phishing emails that can lead to devastating ransomware attacks.
Today's ransomware operators also typically steal sensitive data and threaten to release it on the dark web unless a payment is made.