There was a worldwide upsurge in cyberattacks in Quarter 3 of 2022. Attacks increased by 28% in contrast to the same period in 2021. Attacks today occur at an average rate of 1,130 every week, as per Check Point Research.
Education was the most targeted sector in Q3, having an 18% increase in attacks. Next is the government/military with a 20% increase. The third most targeted sector is healthcare with 1,426 attacks every month on average, but this sector got the second greatest percentage growth in attacks, which is 60% compared to 2021. Healthcare likewise had the biggest number of ransomware attacks among the different sectors in Q3. One in 42 healthcare providers encountered an attack, which is 5% more than in Q3 of 2021. This was in spite of an 8% worldwide drop in ransomware attacks in Q3.
Although the number of ransomware attacks rose compared to 2021, it seems that the attacks are beginning to level, as the percent increase is not as sharp as last year. Check Point states that this may be because of businesses that invest more in cybersecurity, and the greater focus of government authorities on going after hackers and ransomware groups and bringing them to court.
Researchers say that hackers and ransomware groups have obtained momentum and courage, tempting and attacking what appears to be never-ending targets around the world. In Q3, a number of major attacks had been reported, which include the cyberattack on LA Unified School District, the second biggest school district in America. Australia also experienced many attacks, including the attack on the telecoms company Optus and the ransomware attack on health insurer Medibank. The region of ANZ (Australia and New Zealand) got the biggest percentage increase (72%) in cyberattacks in Q3, the next is North America with a 47% increase in cyberattacks or 849 attacks per week, on average.
The rise in attacks indicates how critical it is to spend on cybersecurity and constantly evaluate and enhance protection. Check Point advises working on prevention and making certain cybersecurity guidelines are adopted, instead of focusing on threat identification as soon as networks are breached.
A lot of these cyberattacks focused on workers. Threat actors use phishing to acquire preliminary access to systems and propagate malware
and ransomware. It is necessary to make sure that workers get enough training frequently to strengthen cybersecurity guidelines and train workers how to identify and prevent threats like phishing. Current email filtering options must also be effective at doing behavioral analysis of attachments to spot zero-day malware threats, by means of sandboxing technology. Medical care companies also need to look at registering for real-time threat intelligence to allow active guarding against zero-day phishing strategies, and also use URL filtering to prevent access to identified malicious sites.
Vulnerabilities are frequently taken advantage of and it can be hard for security groups to stay on top of patching and software program updates. Putting first patching is important to make sure that the most critical vulnerabilities are resolved first. CISA has released a technique that may be used for enhancing patch management effectiveness. In healthcare particularly, anti-ransomware solutions ought to be implemented that can quickly identify indications of ransomware and reveal ongoing mutations of identified and unidentified malware families via behavioral evaluation and generic regulations.