"Global Ransomware Damages to Exceed $30bn by 2023"

Security researchers at Acronis found that nearly half of breaches during the first six months of 2022 involved stolen credentials.  The researchers noted that the prime goal for cybercriminals is to use these credentials to launch ransomware attacks, which "continue to be the number one threat to large and medium-sized businesses, including government organizations." The researchers stated that to extract these credentials, the attackers mainly use phishing techniques, with 600 malicious email campaigns that made their way across the internet in the first half of 2022, of which 58% of the emails were phishing attempts, and 28% featured malware.  The researchers noted that "as reliance on the cloud increases, attackers have homed in on different entryways to cloud-based networks."  Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting unpatched software vulnerabilities to extract data, and are increasingly targeting Linux operating systems, managed service providers (MSPs), and their network of SMB customers.  The researchers stated that ransomware is worsening, even more so than they predicted, and noted that they expect global ransomware damages to exceed $30bn by 2023.

Infosecurity reports: "Global Ransomware Damages to Exceed $30bn by 2023"