According to DataLink partner SonicWall, cyber criminals are not letting up in their relentless pursuit to illegally obtain data, valuable information and intellectual property.
This is among the conclusions drawn from the 2019 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report that delivers an in-depth look at threat intelligence obtained from its more than 1 million sensors around the world. Analyzed by SonicWall threat researchers, the data collected over the course of 2018 indicates an escalation in the volume of cyberattacks and new targeted threat tactics used by cyber criminals.
In the wake of vulnerabilities like Spoiler, PortSmash, Foreshadow, Meltdown and Spectre that can lead to side-channel attacks, SonicWall threat researchers have deemed processor vulnerabilities a growing security concern for both software and hardware technologies, which could have unprecedented ramifications. SonicWall’s Real-Time Deep Memory Inspection (RTDMI) identified 74,290 never-seen-before attacks in 2019. These variants were so new, unique and complex that they were without a signature at the time of discovery and included detection of multiple side-channel attacks.
As network defenses increase in sophistication, so do the anonymity of attacks that now include the targeting of non-standard ports to ensure payloads are concealed upon delivery. Based upon a sampling of more than 700 million malware attacks, SonicWall research revealed that over 19% of malware attacks used non-standard ports, a year-over-year increase of 8.7%.
PDFs and Office files have long been everyday operating tools for organizations of all sizes and across all industries. Cybercriminals are now leveraging these trusted files to circumvent traditional firewalls and single-engine sandboxes to deliver malware. SonicWall’s multi-engine sandbox service discovered threats in over 47,000 PDFs and almost 51,000 Office files in 2018. This presents a growing problem, as most security controls cannot identify and mitigate the hidden malware contained in these files.
After analyzing data from over 200,000 malicious events and malware samples daily to compare and document online criminal activity, SonicWall identified the following additional growth trends…
- 10.52 billion malware attacks were blocked in 2018, the most ever recorded to date by SonicWall
- 217.5% increase in IoT attacks in 2018
- More than 2.8 million encrypted malware attacks were blocked in 2018, a 27% year-over-year increase from 2017
- 11% year-over-year increase in ransomware attacks
- 56% increase in web app attacks
Growing corporate concern over security is well founded… The volume and sophistication of attacks by cyber criminals are increasing by leaps and bounds. With DataLink experts implementing SonicWall security solutions to help protect your business, you can focus more on the activities that improve your bottom line, not on looming online threats.
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