The recent Covid-19 pandemic forced companies to find smarter solutions and tools to maintain the continuity of their activities. Due to the need for social distancing, many workers began to perform their duties remotely from their own homes, making businesses more exposed to various digital threats.
As a result of this new reality, the concept of digital security has gained even more visibility, becoming a very important aspect for business. Just like technology, ways of circumventing systems and breaking into networks have also developed a lot over the years. The attacks carried out today are increasingly sophisticated , making it necessary to use more efficient resources and tools to combat these threats.
With the increase in remote workers, cybercriminals have broader attack surfaces. Since this adaptation had to happen in an imposed and very fast way, the companies' network infrastructure became more fragile and susceptible to security threats .
These criminals can have even more gateways to access sensitive data and steal information. Another problem caused by this new reality is that now, outside of business environments, employees can adopt a more vulnerable posture , increasing the chances of being victims of scams.
It is important to remember that it is not necessary to be a lay user to be a victim of cyber attacks. These threats affect companies of all sizes and segments and users with different levels of digital knowledge. In recent months, Brazil has suffered several attacks on government agencies, banking institutions, hospitals and private companies, showing how important it is for companies to increasingly dedicate themselves to their digital security. See in this text a cybersecurity report, with an overview of what happened this year.
Main risks and data for 2022
Check Point Research is an organization that provides reliable information about the types of cyber threats being carried out, ensuring reliable information for both its users and customers, as well as the Technology community.
By collecting and analyzing global data on cyber threats, this platform ensures that security products are constantly updated, and that the entire community can have reliable information about digital security around the world.
In the report released in the third quarter of 2022 , we can see a considerable increase in ransomware-type attacks suffered by the healthcare sector. This was due to the sensitivity of the data stored by these institutions and the pressure felt to ensure that attacks of this type are resolved quickly.
However, even though this sector has been suffering more attacks of this type, ransomware attacks fell by around 8% around the world, compared to the same period of the previous year. Understand why this attack is so widely used today:
Because it causes a major impact on business, in addition to the threat of financial loss, this type of attack can considerably harm the company's image in the market.
See below some more data presented in the Check Point Research survey and report.
The most affected sector
The sector most affected by cyber attacks in general was the education and research sector, reaching an average of 2,148 attacks each week (compared to the same period last year), meaning that this sector saw an 18% increase in attacks.
Volume of attacks
In terms of volume of cyber attacks, Asia leads this ranking. The research shows that there were 1,778 attacks per week on companies in this region. Globally, there was a 28% increase in attacks.
Digital security in Brazil
With a weekly average of 1,130 attacks on organizations, Brazil showed an increase of 37% compared to the same period of the previous year , suffering around 1,484 weekly attacks, we can see that Brazil suffered a considerable increase compared to the rest of the world.
This difference is mainly due to the lack of investment in the main attack targets , which are the applications used, remote access and, mainly, users. The digital security culture in Brazil is still very focused on detecting rather than preventing attacks, which contributes to the increase demonstrated in research.
It is important to remember that the necessary remediation after a cyber attack is considerably more costly than its prevention , so that, financially, it is much more interesting for an organization to invest in tools and resources that help prevent these threats.
What are the most common attacks?
The number of types of cyber attacks created by criminals is practically incalculable. However, there are attacks that “work better” than most, therefore, they are more common, as they can attract more victims. See some:
social engineering
When we talk about cyber vulnerability, it is inevitable to talk about Social Engineering . This technique is used by cybercriminals to mislead users and their victims , so that they illegitimately collect confidential data and information.
In some cases, they may use this tool to infect computers or plant links to fake websites. Although it is more common among lay users, this type of tool can also victimize people with experience in the virtual world.
This is because, over the years, these scams have become increasingly sophisticated and can be applied through different means of communication.
Phishing
Phishing attack that has been applied for more than 30 years, having been created in the early days of the internet's popularity. Using fake emails, malicious links and cloned pages, cybercriminals are able to trick their victims into providing very important information, such as credit card details, personal information, login details, among others.
Ransomware
This type of attack is one of the ones that causes the most financial losses for organizations around the world. Cybercriminals invade networks and systems, and are able to hijack confidential data or make networks and databases unavailable.
To grant access or return this information, these criminals request the payment of a ransom, which can be a major financial blow for companies. Typically, this type of attack uses social engineering and phishing to penetrate systems.
Data leak
The leakage of confidential information has always been a major problem for companies, especially those that deal with sensitive and confidential user data. With the creation of the General Data Protection Law, this threat has become even more dangerous for businesses. This is because the leakage of confidential information can generate costs in the form of fines and sanctions for organizations.
DDoS attack
Also known as distributed denial of service attacks, this type of attack uses the capacity limit of a company's infrastructure and networks in order to make its services, pages or resources unusable. By sending multiple requests through infected computers, cybercriminals overload the network, preventing legitimate users and customers from being able to access these services.
The DDoS attack is a silent type of attack, which can take a long time to be noticed, causing a loss of profitability and damaging the company's image in the market. These attacks are often targeted at shopping websites, companies that depend on providing online resources and services, among others.
The biggest cybersecurity attacks of 2021
A relatively simple attack can cause immense damage to a company. This type of threat can be very dangerous for a company, especially when it deals with confidential data. The growth of these attacks has triggered great concern among national companies regarding the security of their information.
The need for digitalization and modernization following social isolation during the pandemic forced companies to adapt in a very short period of time, which favored the creation of points of vulnerability. Contrary to popular belief, these attacks are not just aimed at large companies. Businesses with less than a thousand employees end up being constant targets, representing around 82% of ransomware attacks.
In 2022, cyber attacks continued their attacks and some of these attacks gained a lot of notoriety, for example:
Attacks during the Russia x Ukraine war
In addition to the war going on between Russia and Ukraine, behind the scenes there is also a cyber war between the two countries. It's no secret that Russia has used cyber attacks to cause blackouts, steal data and attack its neighboring country for years.
However, due to the growing threat, Ukraine is also counting on an IT army that has been carrying out attacks against Russian services to cause chaos and harm their continuity. In addition to them, other hackers from around the world are also carrying out scams and violating Russian data and systems.
Extortions by the Lapsus$ group
This group of hackers became known for attacks on the Submarino and Americanas pages, in addition to coordinating attacks on the Ministry of Health, Correios and private companies, such as Samsung and Localiza. Due to this growing threat, it has become one of the main groups of cybercriminals today.
Following threats to the source code of Microsoft Bing and Cortana, seven criminals were arrested on suspicion of association with the group. After this arrest, the group became inactive.
Conti ransomware
The Conti group of cybercriminals, which is linked to Russia, caused a major impact in Costa Rica in April . By attacking the Ministry of Finance, the group managed to paralyze the country's exports and imports, causing losses of tens of millions of dollars per day.
This attack had such a huge impact on the country that a State of National Emergency was declared by the president, making it the first time that a cyber attack has triggered this type of situation . At the end of May a new attack was carried out, also causing disruptions to Costa Rica's healthcare system.
Attacks on the Federal Government
On August 30, the Federal Government was once again the target of a Ransomware attack , carried out by the cybercriminal group Everest. This attack sold network access to third parties and compromised approximately 3 terabytes of internal information.
This criminal group is very active when it comes to digital crimes. They have already orchestrated attacks on the Attorney General's Office of Finance and the Ministry of Economy, and have also caused damage to the governments of Peru, the United States and Argentina.
Attack on Rede Record
It's not just companies and businesses that can be targets of cyber attacks. In October, the television channel Record TV had to deal with an invasion of its systems , which caused great damage to the broadcasting of its programming.
Cybercriminals hijacked the broadcaster's files, content and reports, blocking access and demanding the payment of a ransom.
Attack on the Bank of Brasília – BRB
Banco de Brasília suffered a ransomware attack in early October this year. Cybercriminals hijacked confidential customer information and requested payment of 50 bitcoins (corresponding to approximately 5 million reais) to return this information.
Attack on the Golden Cross
The healthcare operator suffered a cyber attack in September that affected part of its systems, and again at the end of the same month, it suffered a new invasion. Although the company reports that the attack did not allow access to customer databases and that there is no evidence of any type of exposure of stored data, this type of attack represents a major threat to companies.
Mega CPF Leak
Although it happened in 2021, the mega CPF leak is still generating disastrous consequences and showing the size of the impact that cyberattacks can cause . CPF numbers that were obtained fraudulently are still being sold in batches on the internet.
Data leak from the Ministry of Health
Due to a cyber attack, the Ministry of Health's database had information on millions of citizens, including deceased people. Among the information that was disclosed are the names, addresses and CPF numbers of these people.
This attack not only affected people registered with the SUS, but also customers of any health plan operator.
Data theft in Health Services
Hospitals, clinics and healthcare service providers are a frequent target of cybercriminal groups. A Massachusetts-based company called Shields Health Care Group disclosed in June a data breach attack that affected around 2 million people. in the country.
Cybercriminals have stolen important information such as names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, billing information, and sensitive medical data.
Chinese Hackers
The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned in early June that some hackers supported by the Chinese government had access to confidential data from users around the world, mainly from telecommunications companies. Using network vulnerabilities and bugs, hackers were able to fraudulently collect this information.
How to protect your company with Lumiun Box ?
Today there are several forms of protection. Systems, software, team training and many other strategies. However, we know that the gateway to companies' main data leaks are lay or ill-intentioned users. Therefore, effectively blocking access and good management of company internet use is perhaps the best solution to protect company data and information.
Lumiun Box is a simple, intuitive solution that does not require technical knowledge to install and can manage the company's entire internet network, blocking malicious websites, social networks, dating sites and much more.
See some features and functionalities:
- firewall
- Blocking network ports, protecting company data and information
- Business VPN
- Control and protect remote connections to the company's internal data and systems
- Management reports
- Analysis of access in real time and for a personalized period, facilitating the creation of an internet access control policy
- Management of multiple networks
- Manage branches or networks from a single panel
Count on technology to improve processes and remove daily concerns related to the company's productivity and internet security. Take a demonstration of Lumiun Box and see in practice how the solution improves internet use .
Until later!
