SonicWall in its mid-year updated report provided details of the major cybersecurity threats of 2022, citing malware, ransomware, cryptojacking and other threats.
According to the survey, 66% of respondents were statistically more concerned about cyberattacks this year than ever before, which is not surprising given the 2.8 billion malware hits were recorded in the first half of 2022.
The malware categories that have increased the most are cryptojacking malware (30% increase) and Internet of Things-related (IoT) malware (77% increase). North American attacks have increased by 2%, which is well below the global average. Nevertheless, cyberattacks in Europe have increased by 29%, while attacks in Asia have increased by 32%. In terms of affected states in the United States, Florida remains the hardest hit, followed by California and New York.
Education appears to be the most targeted sector, with a monthly increase of 21.4%, followed by government at 19.3% and financial organizations at 15.2%.
There has been a 23% increase in ransomware attacks, with 236.1 million ransomware attempts reported in the first half of 2022, while the number of IoT malware increased by 77% and exceeded 12 million detections between January and June 2022. Meanwhile, worldwide cryptojacking reached 66.7 million in the first half of 2022, an increase of 30% compared to the first half of 2021.
According to the SonicWall report, such figures show the insecurity of the cyber threat landscape. Despite the fact that ransomware attacks in the U.S. have declined by 51% compared to last year and in Germany by 46%, other countries are recording a sharp increase in ransomware attacks.
The sources for this piece include an article in TechRepublic.
