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Numbers Don't Lie: New Report Shows the Harsh Truths About Cyberattacks

Writer's picture: Sergiu MariasSergiu Marias


How often do attacks on computers happen? How often do threat actors around the world go after companies and governments? The BlackBerry® Threat Research and Intelligence Team recently looked at 90 days of real-world data to answer these questions. The latest BlackBerry Global Threat Intelligence Report has all the details, but here are a few interesting cyber attack data to whet your appetite.


Cyberattacks in the Real World:


In their most recent quarterly report, BlackBerry threat analysts looked at how many malware-based attacks happened from December 2022 to February 2023. During that time, the AI-powered endpoint protection product from BlackBerry found and stopped 1,578,733 cyberattacks from malware that were aimed at customers.


Cyberattacks for 90 Days


The BlackBerry Threat Research and Intelligence Team made the following notes based on a study of cyberattacks that were found and stopped during the 90-day window:


1,578,733 attempts have been done with malware.


200,454 new attacks (using malware that hadn't been found before)


17,280 breaches happen on average every day.


720 breaches happen every hour on average.


12 strikes per minute, on average.


1.5 new types of malware are made every minute on average.


The latest report also looks at how the speed of cyberattacks has changed over this time frame. The graph below shows that there was a big rise in early December 2022, followed by a big drop in the last week of the year, when many threat actors and the people they were after seemed to take a break for the holidays. As hackers went back to work in the new year, attacks got worse.


During the study time, the number of new types of malware that were found was pretty constant. Signature-based antivirus products don't do much to protect against this steady stream of attacks that have never been seen before. As a result, many organisations have switched to AI-based EPP (endpoint protection platform) solutions, which independent testing has shown to be much more effective.


Most-Sought-After Businesses


The BlackBerry Threat Research and Intelligence Team also found out which businesses that use BlackBerry products are most likely to be attacked. The following numbers show how many times BlackBerry's zero-trust access solution, CylanceEDGETM, stopped hacks on organisations in different industries.


During the time of the study, the most targeted businesses were:


Businesses that handle money


Hospitals, clinics, and medical devices are examples of healthcare services and tools.


Food and staples stores, like supermarkets, drugstores, and companies that sell food to other businesses, are examples of food and staples sellers.


The report found that 60% of all attacks occurred in these vertical businesses. Threat researchers at BlackBerry also looked at the types of malware that were used against these categories.


According to the study, CylanceEDGE stopped 231,510 malware attacks on the financial services industry, which means that on average, 2,601 malware-based attacks were tried each day. Malware that hadn't been seen before showed up in 34 different strikes every day. Researchers used this information to figure out that Metasploit®, an open-source pen-testing programme, is still one of the most popular tools that threat actors use to target this business.


93,000 of the blocked attacks were made against the healthcare business. There were 5,246 different types of malware used against the healthcare industry, and BlackBerry technologies stopped an average of 59 new versions every day. During the reporting period, the report says that the healthcare business saw more use of the Emotet Trojan, the adversary simulation tool Cobalt Strike, and widespread ransomware like BlackCat.


12 percent of the attempts to get in that BlackBerry endpoint security solutions stopped were against retail and retail supply lines. These businesses provide important services, and if their ecosystems break down, it could have serious effects not only in the area where it happened, but also in the region, the country, or even the world. The risks are getting even worse as digital change and connections within and between industries grow.


What the Numbers Have to Say#


Cybersecurity experts in a wide range of businesses continue to struggle against a rising tide of complex cyberthreats that move quickly. Shishir Singh, the CTO of BlackBerry, says that the third generation of cybersecurity will help by bringing in more predictive defensive powers made possible by further improvements in artificial intelligence and machine learning. As these technologies get better, though, organisations are told to put more of their attention on putting current defences in order of priority based on contextualised cyber threat intelligence (CTI). Expertly crafted, curated, and customised CTI can give organisations insights that can help them predict and withstand attacks, quickly recover from cyber incidents, and adapt to their changing threat environment.


Check out the BlackBerry Global Threat Intelligence Report for the most up-to-date information on new cyberattacks and the general threat landscape.


Note: Bruce Sussman, Sr. Manager of Editorial at BlackBerry, wrote this piece with great skill. He has been a journalist his whole life, and he loves hacking because it is always changing. He used to work at Gartner and SecureWorld with CISOs and other stars in cybersecurity.



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