Check Point Research, the division of Threat Intelligence Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd.published the Global Cyber Attack Report for the second quarter of 2023, which shows that weekly attacks have increased by 8% compared to the same period of the previous year.
With this, the highest point of the last two years has been reached with an average of 1,258 cyberattacks per week.
He disruptive impact of the digital conflict between Russia and Ukraine has subsided relatively in recent months, allowing the threat landscape to return to its previous state. This new normal is characterized by an increase in cyberattacks with new evasive tactics, attacks based on hacktivism, and a daily barrage of ransomware targeting businesses. Despite the fact that the impact of the conflict has diminished, the persistence of these threats requires extreme vigilance and increased cybersecurity.
Need for greater cybersecurity
In recent months, researchers have reported the unmasking of a China-based APT (Advanced Persistent Threat) that targeted government entitiesreferences to hidden malware detected behind legitimate-looking applications… They have also discovered a new version of chinese espionage as propagated through USB devices and the detection of implants of malicious firmware in routers from Internet. In addition, cybercriminals have taken advantage of the latest revolution in artificial intelligence and AI-based generative chat platforms, as ChatGPT4.
According to the data in this report, in the second quarter of 2023 the education/research sector was the most affected in number of incidents, with an average of 2,179 attacks per company per week, which represents a small decrease of 6% from the second quarter of 2022.
The government/military sector has been the second most attacked, with an average of 1,772 attacks per week, representing an increase of 9% over the same period last year. The health sector has followed closely, with an average of 1,744 attacks per week, reflecting a significant year-on-year increase of 30%. However, the most significant change has been in the retail/wholesale and consulting sectors, which saw the largest year-over-year increase with a 38% increase, translating to 1,105 and 958 weekly attacks respectively.
Latin America is hit by the strong growth of cyberattacks
During the second quarter of 2023, Africa experienced the highest average number of weekly cyberattacks per organization, averaging 2,164 attacks. This represents a significant increase of 23% compared to the same period in 2022.
The APAC region also saw a substantial 22% year-over-year increase in the average number of weekly attacks per organization, averaging 2,046 attacks. For its part, Latin America reached 1,745 attacks per week, registering a growth of +9%.