New Data from Positive Sees Cyberattacks Up 17 Percent in Q1

Positive Technologies determined in a new research report that the number of organizational cyberattacks have increased by 17 percent, year-on-year, for the first quarter of 2021. Per Positive’s “Cybersecurity Threatscape Q1 2021,” 77 percent of respondents suffered some form of a “targeted attack.” Incidents against individuals, coincidentally, accounted for 12 percent.

Other findings included malware as the most common tactic used by attackers, especially given new methods to hide from organizational security tools; most-popular vulnerabilities including Microsoft Exchange server software (ProxyLogon) and Accellion FTA; and increasing instances of new forms of malware for attacking virtualization environments.

The study also determined that approximately 15 percent of cases identified included targeted hacks against IT companies, whether against customers or their personal data, with 71 percent of strikes aimed at obtaining data, and a “particular interest” in 5G technology.

Malware – and, in particular, Remote Access Trojan – attacks made up about 55 percent of all onslaughts.

Positive also issued recommendations for promoting better personal and corporate cybersecurity, among them:

  • Timely installation of security updates.
  • Focusing on measures to secure virtual infrastructure.
  • Employing security tools such as web application firewalls.
  • Using sandboxes to analyze file behavior and detect malicious activity.