2023 could well be the biggest year cybercriminals have ever seen, according to new figures.
According to the latest figures from SonicWall, cybercrime is increasing in every field, but trends are slow to change, something IT security teams need to take into consideration. In particular, hackers take a "slow and low" approach, keeping quiet while pursuing financially motivated goals.
That being said, the company found that the total volume of malware (opens in a new tab) increased by 3% in XNUMX, after XNUMX consecutive years of decline.
Ransomware is increasing in volume
Overall, the entire European continent tested an increase in malware levels (more than ten%) and Ukraine tested a record XNUMX million attempts. Certain countries, such as the UK (-XNUMX%) and Germany (-XNUMX%) did quite well last year. Across the pond, the US saw a XNUMX% drop in malware volume compared to XNUMX.
Probably one of the most popular attack vectors, ransomware experienced a global decline of XNUMX%, but total volume exceeded XNUMX, XNUMX, XNUMX, and XNUMX. In particular, the fourth quarter ransomware total (XNUMX million) was the highest since the third quarter of XNUMX.
But the trends seem to be pointing towards IoT malware, whose global volume has increased 810% in XNUMX, totaling XNUMX million visits last year. Cryptojacking, the hijacking of a terminal to mine cryptocurrency, has also shown no signs of slowing down. It grew XNUMX% globally last year, which is the highest number of SonicWall threat researchers recorded in a year. The retail and financial areas were the most affected, with increases of XNUMX% and XNUMX% respectively.
“The need for cybersecurity has increased in each and every industry and facet of business over the past year, as threat actors target everything from education to retail to finance,” said the president. and SonicWall director Bob VanKirk. "As organizations face an increasing number of real world obstacles with ongoing macroeconomic pressures and geopolitical showdowns, threat actors are changing their attack strategies at a worrying rate."