According to a report by Positive Technologies (Positive Technologies' Cybersecurity Threatscape: Q3 2020), the third quarter of 2020 saw a significant increase in attacks ransomware
The study also found that hacking accounted for 30% of all attacks in the third quarter, with cybercriminals no longer relying as much on social engineering. The researchers observed that the percentage of social engineering attacks that used COVID-19 to scam victims decreased from 16% (in the second quarter) to just 4% (in the third quarter). This is likely because more people have become familiar with this crisis and have become aware of the various scams. Social engineering attacks generally decreased from the first to the third quarter of 2020.
According to researchers, in recent months, healthcare organizations have been targeted by hackers. These organizations include pharmaceutical companies and research centersinvolved in research on vaccines for COVID-19. Half of these attacks were ransomware and in many cases had serious consequences (disruptions to hospital operations).
The security added that attackers exploited security gaps arising from the mass shift to remote work, with vulnerability exploitation increasing by 12 percentage points quarter-over-quarter.
Yana Yurakova, an analyst at Positive Technologies, commented: “According to our data, COVID-19 is being exploited in attacks on both individuals and organizations. However, when it comes to individuals, we see that the number of phishing emails related to COVID-19 is decreasing. Messages about the pandemic decreased in the third quarter.
However, hackers are always finding new ways to trick their victims and evolving their methods, so users should always be on the lookout. Social engineering may not be used often, but other attacks, such as ransomware, have increased significantly. In fact, recently, ransomware gangs have started using a new technique to put pressure on their victims. The technique is called cold calling. When hackers realize that victims are looking for other ways to restore their systems, they call them on the phone and blackmail them into paying the ransom.
Source: Infosecurity Magazine
