Remote workers and managed service providers targeted by
cyberattackers, and data exfiltration outpaces data
encryption
SCHAFFHAUSEN, Switzerland, December 2, 2020 -
Acronis, a
global leader in cyber
protection, today released its
Acronis Cyberthreats Report 2020, its in-depth review of the
current threat landscape and projections for the coming year. Based
on the protection and security challenges that were amplified by
the shift to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, Acronis
warns 2021 will bring aggressive cybercrime activity as criminals
pivot their attacks from data encryption to data exfiltration.
Ransomware continues to be the leading threat, with Maze
ransomware accounting for nearly half of all known cases in 2020.
Yet the
Acronis Cyberthreats Report points to a growing trend of
cybercriminals trying to maximize their financial gain. Not content
to collect ransoms to decrypt infected data, they steal proprietary
- and sometimes embarrassing - data before encrypting it. They then
threaten to publicly release the stolen files if the victim doesn't
pay up.
Acronis' analysts found evidence that more than 1,000 companies
globally had their data leaked following a ransomware attack in
2020 - a trend that is expected to accelerate in the coming year,
overtaking encryption as the criminals' primary tactic.
"More than any year in recent memory, 2020 posed a tremendous
number of challenges to IT professionals, organizations, and the
service providers who support them," noted Stas Protassov, Acronis
co-founder and Technology President. "What we've seen is how
quickly bad actors are adjusting their attacks to the new IT
landscape. By analyzing the activity, attacks, and trends, we've
detected and clearly presenting our findings, we hope to empower
our partners and help the IT community at large prepare for the
threats on the horizon."
Takeaways of the Acronis Cyberthreats Report
Among the other notable findings in the Acronis Cyberthreats
Report include:
- Attacks against remote workers will increase. While 31% of global companies reported daily cyberattacks in 2020, the frequency of attacks targeting their remote workers is projected to increase in 2021, since the defenses for systems outside of the corporate network are more easily compromised, giving bad actors access to that organization's data.
- Ransomware will look for new victims, become more automated. Rather than continuing to cast a wide net, ransomware attackers will focus on targets that provide a bigger return on their efforts. Breaking into one network to steal data from several companies is more profitable than attacking individual organizations. So, while small businesses will still be targeted, cloud environments and organizations like managed service providers will become more valued targets because their systems can provide access to the data of multiple clients.
- Legacy solutions struggle to keep up. Blocking the new malware has rendered traditional antimalware solutions obsolete, as they cannot keep pace with the increased sophistication and frequency of new threats. The average lifespan of a malware sample in 2020 was just 3.4 days. As attackers continue to utilize automation, the number of malware samples will continue to climb. Organizations will need to find new approaches to protection that are agile and designed to stay ahead of new threats. Simple standalone security and backup solutions will no longer be enough.
Evolving responses to evolving threats
"When it comes to existing solutions and strategies, the current
trends in cyberattacks all show that traditional cybersecurity is
failing - usually because of weak technologies and human error,
which are both avoidable," added Candid Wüest, the VP of Cyber
Protection Research at Acronis and co-author of the report. "Just
as cybercriminals are evolving their attacks, organizations need to
advance their protection and security. Comprehensive cyber
protection solutions offer the integration and automation that
eliminate complexity, optimize performance, and streamline recovery
when a successful attack inevitably occurs."
Acronis has been a pioneer in cyber protection, which is the
integration of data protection, cybersecurity, and endpoint
management. To protect all data, applications and systems, Acronis
solutions are designed to address the Five Vectors of Cyber
Protection - safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and
security (SAPAS).
Creating the Acronis Cyberthreats Report 2020
The Acronis Cyberthreats Report 2020 is based on examining
attack and threat data collected by the company's global network of
Acronis Cyber Protection Operations Centers (CPOCs), which monitor
and research cyberthreats 24/7. Malware data was collected by more
than 100,000 unique endpoints around the world running Acronis
Cyber Protect, which launched in May 2020, and covers attacks
targeting endpoints detected between June and October.
The full report provides in-depth insights into the top
security/threat trends the CPOCs observed in 2020, a review of
malware families and related statistics, a deep dive into
ransomware's most dangerous groups, the vulnerabilities that
contribute to successful attacks, and Acronis' complete security
forecast and recommendations for 2021.
A download link for the full Acronis Cyberthreats Report 2020 is
available
here.
About Acronis:
Acronis is a leader in AI-native cyber protection, unifying data protection, cybersecurity, IT operations and hybrid infrastructure to deliver business continuity, security and compliance with less cost and complexity. More than 21,000 service providers trust Acronis to protect over 750,000 businesses in 150 countries. Acronis is headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. For more information, visit www.acronis.com.