Verizon 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report: Ransomware still a Top Cybersecurity Threat
Ransomware attacks are a key cybersecurity threat for global organizations, warns Verizon’s 2018 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR). Ransomware is the most common type of malware, found in 39 percent of malware-related data breaches – double that of last year’s DBIR – and accounts for more than 700 incidents. What’s more, Verizon’s analysis show that attacks are now moving into business critical systems, which encrypt file servers or databases, inflicting more damage and commanding bigger ransom requests.
DBIR analysis also flags a shift in how social attacks, such as financial pretexting and phishing, are used. Attacks such as these, which continue to infiltrate organizations via employees, are now increasingly a departmental issue. Analysis shows that Human Resource (HR) departments across multiple verticals are now being targeted in a bid to extract employee wage and tax data, so criminals can commit tax fraud and divert tax rebates.