"Research Shows IT and Construction Sectors Hardest Hit By Ransomware"
New research by Ontinue’s Advanced Threat Operations (ATO) team has shed light on the profound impact of ransomware attacks on the IT and construction sectors, revealing that these industries bore the brunt of nearly half of all incidents in 2023. The researchers conducted an extensive analysis of data collected from 600,000 endpoints. According to the researchers, ransomware emerged as a formidable challenge for organizations across industries last year, with the IT and construction sectors facing disproportionate risks. The researchers noted that the prevalence of attacks targeting these sectors can be attributed to their large attack surfaces and the potentially lucrative nature of their operations. The researchers also identified LockBit as the most active ransomware group. The researchers noted that the 8Base ransomware group focused mostly on targeting small and medium-sized businesses in 2023. The researchers predict that there will be continued challenges in 2024, with artificial intelligence (AI) exploitation, IoT vulnerabilities, and evolving ransomware operations expected to remain key concerns.