Key Trends: eCrime and Nation-State Activities

Check out the latest findings

• CrowdStrike revealed that there has been a humongous increase in interactive intrusion activity. There has been a fourfold increase, in two years, in these activities.
• Supply chain attacks, data extortion, ransomware, and nation-state threats are more fervent than ever. 
• The report, moreover, highlights that eCrime attacks accounted for a whopping 79% among all intrusions. In other words, nearly four out of five interactive intrusions in 2020 were motivated by eCrime actors. 
• As per IBM Security, the COVID-19 theme played a significant role in deciding the fate of the threat landscape. In the early days of the pandemic, the primary objective of interactive intrusions was to acquire information on COVID-19 responses. 

eCrime and nation-state activity facts

• Carbon Spider shifted from targeted attacks on PoS systems to ransomware attacks on large organizations.
• Wizard Spider bagged the position of the top-reported attacker for the second year in a row.
• Although people associated with the group were charged, the Chinese threat actor group Wicked Panda continued to wreak havoc. 
• Lazarus APT group persisted with their foreign exchange efforts.

Let’s talk about ICS threats too

• Four new ICS threat actors—Kamacite, Stibnite, Vanadinite, and Talonite—were identified by Dragos. These groups were spotted targeting energy and manufacturing sectors. 
• In addition, 703 ICS/OT vulnerabilities were observed in 2020, which is a 29% increase over 2019. 
• As the pandemic spread across the globe, remote services were ruthlessly abused by attackers against OT. 

Other findings

• The healthcare sector is not yet secure against attacks and thus, will continue to be barraged by cyberattacks.
• 2021 is predicted to observe increased activity by DPRK, owing to COVID-19 and the resulting shortage of food.
• Data extortion is not anticipated to stop anytime soon because of dedicated leak sites.

The bottom line