Managed service providers and telecommuters will be targeted by cybercriminals, cybersecurity trends, and data breaches will outpace encryption.
Acronis today released the Acronis Cyberthreats Report 2020 on cybersecurity trends. It examines the current situation in detail and gives forecasts for the next year. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to widespread teleworking, which in turn has made the challenge of cybersecurity challenges. Based on an analysis of the current situation, Acronis experts predict an increase in cybercrime in 2021 and a shift in the focus of cybercriminals’ actions from encryption to data theft.
Cybersecurity trends
Ransomware remains the most prevalent cyber threat, with nearly half of all ransomware attacks in 2020 being carried out by the Maze malware. However, according to the Acronis Cyber Threats Report, cybercriminals are not stopping there and looking for ways to increase their profits. They not only demand a ransom for decrypting data, but they also steal confidential and sometimes compromising information before encrypting it. They then threaten the victim with publishing the stolen data.
According to Acronis, in 2020, more than 1,000 companies were victims of information leaks following ransomware attacks, and this trend will only intensify next year, displacing data encryption.
“2020 has been a year of unprecedented complexity for IT professionals, organizations and service providers,” says Stanislav Protasov, co-founder and CTO of Acronis. – We see that attackers instantly adapt to changes in the IT environment. By analyzing the identified trends, methods and attacks, and publishing the results of our research, we hope to help our partners and the IT community as a whole prepare to face the threats of tomorrow. “
Excerpts from the Acronis Cyberthreats Report
Among the important theses of the Acronis Cyberthreats Report are the following:
Remote workers will become more frequent targets of attacks. In 2020, 31% of multinational companies reported being subject to cyber-attacks on a daily basis. Attacks targeting remote workers are predicted to increase in 2021 as systems outside the corporate network are more easily compromised, allowing attackers to gain access to the organization’s data.
Ransomware attacks will be automated and shifted from large-scale campaigns to specific targets that can be profitable. Introducing several companies into a corporate network to steal data is more profitable than attacking a single organization. So the threat to small businesses will remain, but cybercriminals will prioritize cloud solutions and organizations such as managed service providers, as their systems can provide access to data from multiple customers.
Outdated solutions fail. Traditional anti-malware solutions fail to protect against ever-evolving and evolving threats. In 2020, new malware appeared on average once every 3.4 days. Attackers are adopting automation everywhere, so the number of strains of malware will only increase. New flexible approaches are required to ensure safety in such an environment. Simple, standalone protection and backup solutions are no longer enough.
New protection against new threats
“With regard to existing solutions and strategies, current trends in the field of cyber-attacks clearly demonstrate the inadequacy of traditional cybersecurity models, usually due to outdated technologies and the influence of the human factor. Both can be avoided, says Candide Wuest, Acronis’ VP of Cyber Defense Research and co-author of the report. “Attackers are improving their methods, which means organizations need to improve their defenses. Comprehensive and integrated cyber security solutions automate processes, optimize performance, and facilitate recovery from successful attacks that no one is immune to.”
Create 2020 Acronis Cyberthreats Report
Acronis Cyber Threats 2020 is based on an analysis of attack and threat data from Acronis’ global network of Cyber Defense Operations Centers (CPOCs), which monitor the situation 24/7.
