The digitalization of society and the forced remote work forced the business to face new difficulties. Hackers began to attack twice as often and faster, but companies themselves are changing their defense strategy.
The outgoing year has demonstrated an increase in the number of attacks on Russian companies. According to the integrator "Jet Infosystems", since the beginning of 2021, the number of hacking attempts has almost doubled. This was facilitated by the all-time record number of vulnerabilities found in popular corporate services and applications.
In addition, as noted by integrator specialist Andrey Yankin, attackers began to react faster to information about vulnerabilities that are published on the Internet. According to him, the vulnerability in the Java - Log4Shell library became the main news of this year.
"In Russia alone, the number of such attacks increased by 200% in 2021. The ransom amounts demanded by cryptographic operators from their victims (international companies) are huge — some reached up to $ 50-70 million. About 30% of the attacked companies pay ransom to the attackers," said Group-IB.
Phishing and fraudulent affiliate programs (Scam-as-a-service, Phishing-as-a-service) have also become widespread.
Another growing trend in the information security market is the protection of automated control systems that enterprises are equipped with. In case of an attack, the cost of a cyber incident increases significantly.
Kaspersky Lab, in turn, noted that organizations have begun to take a comprehensive approach to cybersecurity and prefer to build their own information security systems, trusting one vendor (supplier). At the same time, top managers are ready for additional expenses.
"The global transition to remote operation required companies to increase investments in information security. According to our survey, more than half of information security specialists expect an increase in information security costs in their organization in the coming years," said the expert.
The Covid-19 pandemic continues to affect not only the interests of business, but also the lives of ordinary users. People spend more and more time on the Internet, which suggests a trend of digitalization of society in general.
