Since the dawn of the internet, a cyber crime ecosystem has been developing right beneath our fingertips. And much like the maturing of the Internet, this ecosystem has come a long way since its inception.
In the first installment of the 2019 Security Report, CyberAttack Trends, we reviewed the latest trends and threats facing the IT security industry today. We assessed the major incidents that impacted organizations over the past year along with our commentary and insights regarding them. These trends fell into the categories of Cryptominers, Ransomware, Malware Methodology, Data Breaches, Mobile and Nation State Cyber Attacks.
In the second installment we zone in on an underlying trend that lies behind all of the above categories, the democratization of cyber crime.
While in the past cyber crime activities were the sole domain of highly technical individuals, in today’s cyber underworld anyone who is willing to pay can easily obtain the suitable tools and services needed to launch any kind of cyber-attack.
While unskilled attackers have been involved in the malware distribution arena for a while now, this year we witnessed a significant growth in attacks orchestrated with cyber weapons or products that were acquired through the clandestine ‘Malware-as-a-Service’ industry.
This report then takes a deeper dive into the trend of more stealth-like malware that was silently making its way into organizations’ IT infrastructure. Whereas 2017 was filled with large scale, headline grabbing attacks that served as a wake-up call to both private individuals and businesses alike, 2018 saw threat actors trying to keep a lower profile for their menacing activities. Don’t be fooled, though. Out of sight should not mean out of mind.
Get your copy of vol.2 of the 2019 Security Report, ‘Under the Hood’, to understand the threats your organization faces. There is no sign these threats will slow down. Instead, they will only become worse.