SonicWall, publisher of the world’s most quoted ransomware data and trusted cyberattack intelligence, today released the 2023 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report. The bi-annual report details an increasingly diversified cyberattack landscape tween shifting threat two-face strategies. SonicWall recorded the second-highest year on record for global ransomware attempts, as well as an 87% increase in Internet of Things (IoT) malware and a record number of cryptojacking attacks (139.3 million) in 2022.
“The past year reinforced the need for cybersecurity in every industry and every facet of business, as threat actors targeted anything and everything, from education to retail to finance,” said SonicWall President and CEO Bob VanKirk. “While organizations squatter an increasing number of real-world obstacles with macroeconomic pressures and unfurled geopolitical strife, threat actors are shifting wade strategies at an viperous rate.”
Threat Actors Shift Strategies, Opt for Covert Cyberattack Methods
Global malware volume increased 2% year-over-year, but it was jumps in IoT malware ( 87%) and cryptojacking ( 43%) that offset the ripen of overall global ransomware volume (-21%), signifying a strategic shift. Threat actors have embraced slower and increasingly stealthy approaches to unzip financially-motivated cyberattacks.
“Cyberattacks are an ever-present danger for companies of all sizes, putting their operations and reputation on the line,” said SonicWall Threat Detection and Response Strategist Immanuel Chavoya. “It is crucial for organizations to understand attackers’ tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs), and commit to threat-informed cybersecurity strategies to defend and recover successfully from business-disrupting events. This includes stopping sophisticated ransomware attacks as well as defending emerging threat vectors, including IoT and cryptojacking.”
In wing to cyberattacks rhadamanthine increasingly sophisticated and covert, threat actors are showing well-spoken preferences for unrepealable techniques, with notable shifts toward weak IoT devices, cryptojacking and potentially soft targets like schools and hospitals.
Prominent ransomware attacks impacted enterprises, governments, airlines, hospitals, hotels and plane individuals causing widespread system downtime, economic loss and reputational damage. Following global trends, several industries faced large year-over-year increases of ransomware volume, including education ( 275%), finance ( 41%) and healthcare ( 8%).
“Organizations today squatter an evolving threat landscape where threat actors are finding new and creative ways to stay superiority of the enterprise,” said Debasish Mukherjee, Vice President, Regional Sales, Asia Pacific Japan at SonicWall. “Cyber risks and their impacts on organizations globally protract to dominate headlines and boardrooms. The 2023 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report helps hoist us as a suppositious source and strengthens our worthiness to provide sound security measures to our customers.”
Diverse Attacks Offset Global Ransomware Decline
Cybercriminals are using increasingly wide tools and tactics to exploit and extort victims, with state-sponsored worriedness growing as a concern. While ransomware continues to be a threat, SonicWall Capture Labs threat researchers expect increasingly state-sponsored worriedness targeting a broader set of victims in 2023, including SMBs and enterprises.
The 2023 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report provides insight on a range of cyber threats, including:
- Malware – Total volume was up 2% in 2022 without three straight years of ripen — just as SonicWall predicted in the 2022 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report. Following that trend, Europe as a whole saw increased levels of malware ( 10%) as did Ukraine, which had a record 25.6 million attempts, suggesting malware was used heavily in regions impacted by geopolitical strife. In APAC, the cyber landscape continues to remain gloomy with all tracked metrics rising in severity, including a surge in malware ( 38%). Interestingly, malware was lanugo year-over-year in key countries like the U.S. (-9%), U.K. (-13%) and Germany (-28%).
- Ransomware – Although overall ransomware numbers saw a 25% ripen globally, the total volume in 2022 was higher than 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. In particular, total ransomware in Q4 (154.9 million) was the highest since Q3 2021.
- IoT Malware – Global volume rose 87% in 2022, totaling 112 million hits by year’s end. With no respective slowdown in the proliferation of unfluctuating devices, bad actors are likely probing soft targets to leverage as potential wade vectors into larger organizations.
- Apache Log4j – Intrusion attempts versus the industry’s Apache Log4j ‘Log4Shell’ vulnerability eclipsed 1 billion in 2022. The vulnerability was first discovered in December 2021 and has been urgently venal since.
- Cryptojacking – Use of cryptojacking as a ‘low and slow’ tideway unfurled to surge, rising 43% globally, which is the most SonicWall Capture Labs threat researchers have recorded in a single year. In APAC, cryptojacking continues to see an velocious reconfiguring of the international cyber frontlines with a spike of 129%. The retail and financial industry felt the sting of cryptojacking attacks, seeing 2810% and 352% increases, respectively, year-over-year.
“Cyberattacks of all varieties protract to hinder organizations worldwide,” said Logically Chief Operating Officer Keith Johnson. “SonicWall’s yearly intelligence report gives us a deeper understanding of the current threat landscape and helps dispersal why cyberattacks protract to be successful, as well as the drivers and trends overdue them. By making this report misogynist to partners, SonicWall helps hoist us as trusted advisors and strengthens our worthiness to provide sound security measures to our customers.”
Patented RTDMI Discovered increasingly than 465,000 ‘Never-Before-Seen’ Malware Variants in 2022
SonicWall’s patented Real-Time Deep Memory InspectionTM (RTDMITM) technology identified a total of 465,501 never-before-seen malware variants in 2022, a 5% year-over-year increase and an stereotype of 1,279 per day. Dating to 2019, this is the fourth straight year RTDMI increased its total of malware discoveries.
To learn increasingly well-nigh SonicWall and get the well-constructed 2023 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report, please visit SonicWall.com/ThreatReport.
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