Cyber Attacks, Damage, and Statistics of 2022
What is a Cyberattack?
‘Cyber Attack is a word that you must have heard by now but if you are someone who hasn’t heard of or is still not clear of what it means then it is very important to understand it before heading forward.
Cyber-attacks are the kind of attacks in which an attempt to gain unauthorized access to an organization’s infrastructure is made to steal confidential information or to launch additional attacks via breached infrastructure for criminal purposes.
Cyber-attacks are motivated by a variety of goals, ranging from financial gain to manipulating public opinion to cyber warfare.
Types of Cyber Attacks
It’s time to examine the many forms of cyber threats. Below is a basic summary of its various forms.
Malware: Malware assaults are the most common and hazardous types of attacks that can infiltrate your computer simply by clicking on an anonymous link or malicious attachment that then installs risky software. It is a common term used to classify malicious software such as spyware, ransomware, viruses, and worms. Malware can block access to critical network components, collect & send sensitive data to a third-party location, infiltrate other infrastructure, and cause catastrophic damages to an organization by disabling their critical IT components.
Phishing: Phishing is the method of sending fraudulent communications that seem to come from a reputable source. In this method, the user is tricked into providing confidential information or installing malicious software in the system by impersonating genuine websites or emails. It is one of the increasing & common methods of cyber-attacks.
DNS hijacking/redirection attack: DNS assassination is a sort of attack in which cybercriminals exploit vulnerabilities in the Domain Name System (DNS). In this type of attack, DNS queries are incorrectly resolved to unexpectedly reroute users to fake pages and retransmit data from compromised computers
Man in the middle attack: As the name implies, the hacker intercepts a communication between two parties and redirects traffic to different destination IP addresses pointing to a malicious destination
Denial of service attack: A Denial of Service attack aims to overwhelm systems, networks, or servers with traffic, preventing them from fulfilling genuine requests. To initiate an attack on the target system, attackers can also use multiple compromised devices. This is called a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.
Zero-day attack: A zero-day vulnerability is a software vulnerability that is discovered by attackers before the software/hardware owner becomes aware of it. A zero-day attack is the use of a zero-day exploit to cause the breach to steal the information or damage the infrastructure of the organization.
Cybercrime damage and statistics
According to various researchers and reports, the following are some of the alarming statistics in regards to cyber security for the year 2022:
- Cybersecurity ventures expect global cybercrime costs to grow by 15 percent per year over the next five years, reaching USD 10.5 trillion annually by 2025, up from USD 3 trillion in 2015.
- A report from Cybersecurity Ventures predicted Ransomware damages would cost the world $5 billion (USD) in 2017, up from $325 million in 2015 — a 15X increase in just two years. The damages for 2018 were predicted to reach $8 billion, for 2019 the figure was $11.5 billion, and in 2021 it was $20 billion — which is 57X more than it was in 2015.
- It is estimated that an organization suffered a ransomware attack every 11 seconds in 2021, according to Cybersecurity Ventures, and it is expected there will be a new attack on a consumer or business every two seconds by 2031.
- CNA Financial, one of the largest insurance companies in the U.S., reportedly paid hackers $40 million, the largest ransom ever, after a ransomware attack blocked access to the company’s network and stole its data, according to a report from Bloomberg.
- Energy statistic – 84 percent of energy businesses have specialized cyber positions, with 68 percent planning to purchase cyber liability insurance. These staggering figures demonstrate the gravity of cyber threats and their consequences in the energy sector.
- Healthcare statistics – By 2025, the global market for healthcare cybersecurity is estimated to reach $125 billion. For each patient record that is affected by a breach, healthcare providers can spend up to $408, plus an additional $1.75 million to restore their reputation. Before working remotely during the COVID-19 epidemic, 90 percent of healthcare workers did not undergo any security or data privacy training.
- Gaming statistic – When compared to pre-pandemic data, cyberattacks on video games increased by 340 percent. A whopping 55% of frequent gamers have had one of their accounts hacked at some time. In 2020, the video gaming industry was responsible for approximately 11 billion credential stuffing attacks.
Prevention from cyberattacks
Every day, new risks are emerging, and to defeat cybercriminals and save your business, you must try to stay ahead of them. The only way to safeguard your company and network is to take the necessary security measures. Following are some of the recommendations to detect, prevent and respond to cyber-attacks.
Be prepared for cyber threats:If the correct cybersecurity strategy is drafted, it will aid to be prepared and in the prediction of threats. Because the correctly drafted strategy will help the security team to be aware of the kind of data that may attract hackers, they will be able to add an extra layer of security control to prevent that area.
Detect and respond to cyber-threats:The next critical step is detecting and responding to cyber-attacks. With the help of the right cyber security strategy and security controls, the threat can be detected and blocked at the initial level itself.
Cybersecurity is cost-effective:Investing in cybersecurity may sound like an additional expense to run the business but the cost to detect, prevent and respond to an attack may seem very less after a breach has happened.
So, if you want your company to thrive while being secure, you need to invest in cybersecurity services and connect with a cyber security expert. It may cost you some fortune today, but in the long run, this may act as an enabler for your firm to achieve its business objectives.
Conclusion
We hope now you’re aware of some of the common threats and trends you must address. Cybersecurity is the only option. If you are struggling with what to address, and want to figure out what you can do, engage a cyber security specialist and have them assist you in achieving the expected level of security. The most effective method is to engage a top cyber security consultant and benefit from a secure and safe business from cyber threats.