Despite the perception they are too small to target, SMBs are
increasingly vulnerable due to supply-chain attacks and greater use
of automation by ransomware groups
SCHAFFHAUSEN, Switzerland, August 4, 2021 - Acronis, the global leader in
cyber
protection, today released the Acronis Cyberthreats Report
Mid-year 2021 update, an in-depth review of the cyberthreat trends
the company's experts are tracking. Released at this week's Black
Hat 2021 event, where Acronis is a Diamond sponsor, the report
warns that small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are at
particular risk based on the attack trends seen during the first
six months of the year.
The report revealed that during the first half of 2021, 4 out of
5 organizations experienced a cybersecurity breach originating from
a vulnerability in their third-party vendor ecosystem. That's at a
time when the average cost of a data breach rose to around $3.56
million, with the average ransomware payment jumping 33% to more
than $100,000.
While that represents a major financial hit to any organization,
those amounts would sound the death-knell for most SMBs, which
Acronis believes is a major concern for the second half of
2021.
"While the increase in attacks affects organizations of all
sizes, something that's under-reported in the coverage of current
cyberthreat trends is the impact on the small business community,"
explained Candid Wüest, Acronis VP of Cyber Protection Research.
"Unlike larger corporations, small and medium-sized companies don't
have the money, resources, or staffing expertise needed to counter
today's threats. That's why they turn to IT service providers - but
if those service providers are compromised, those SMBs are at the
mercy of the attackers."
By utilizing supply-chain attacks against managed service
providers (MSPs), attackers gain access to both the MSP business
and all of its clients. As seen in the SolarWinds breach last year
and the Kaseya VSA attack earlier in 2021, one successful attack
means they can breach hundreds or thousands of SMBs downstream.
At Black Hat 2021, Wüest will provide an in-depth look at how
supply-chain attacks against IT service providers pose a particular
threat to SMBs in a session titled
Ransomware Attacks Against MSPs - A Nightmare for SMBs.
Additional takeaways at the mid-year mark
Beyond the high-profile attacks that have dominated the
headlines during the past six months and the concerns Acronis is
raising about the impact on MSPs and small businesses, the Acronis
Cyberthreats Report Mid-year 2021 also noted:
- Phishing attacks are rampant. Using social engineering techniques to trick unwary users into clicking malicious attachments or links, phishing emails rose 62% from Q1 to Q2. That spike is of particular concern since 94% of malware is delivered by email. During the same period, Acronis blocked more than 393,000 phishing and malicious URLs for clients, preventing attackers from accessing valuable data and injecting malware into the client's system.
- Data exfiltration continues to increase. In 2020, more than 1,300 victims of ransomware had their data publicly leaked following an attack, as cybercriminals look to maximize the financial gain from successful incidents. During the first half of 2021, more than 1,100 data leaks have already been published - which projects a 70% increase for the year.
- Remote workers continue to be a prime target. The reliance on remote workers continues in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two-thirds of remote workers now use work devices for personal tasks and use personal home devices for business activities. As a result, attackers have been actively probing remote workers. Acronis observed more than twice the number of global cyberattacks, with a 300% increase in brute-force attacks against remote machines via RDP.
Creating the Acronis Cyberthreats Report Mid-year
2021
The Acronis Cyberthreats Report Mid-year 2021 is based on
examining attack and threat data collected by the company's global
network of Acronis CPOCs, which monitor and research cyberthreats
24/7. Malware data was collected by more than 250,000 unique
endpoints around the world running Acronis Cyber Protect (either as
a client of an MSP using Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud or a business
running Acronis Cyber Protect 15). The mid-year update covers
attacks targeting endpoints detected between January and June
2021.
The full report provides in-depth insights into the top
security/threat trends the CPOCs observed during the first half of
2021, 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' security
recommendations for the remainder of 2021 and beyond.
You can download a copy of the full Acronis Cyberthreats Report
Mid-year 2021
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.