Cyber Security Trends and Stats in 2022

According to experts, 2021 was a devastating year for cybersecurity, mainly because businesses accelerated digital adoption and people played out their lives online. Threat actors savagely target everything from critical health infrastructure to small and medium-sized businesses. According to Check Point Research (CPR), 2021 was a 50 percent increase in overall attacks per week on corporate networks compared to 2020.

There are some statistics to pay attention to:

• It may sound strange but Covid-19 also had an impact on raising cybercrimes – since Covid-19, the FBI reported a 300% increase in reported cybercrimes.
• CPR admitted in their findings, that education and research was the sector that starting from 2020 experienced a 75% increase in cyberattacks, which resulted in 1,605 attacks per organization weekly – that is the highest number of attacks!
• The government and the military sector had 1,136 attacks per week.
• The communications industry had 1,079 attacks weekly per organization.
• Africa experienced the highest rate of attacks in 2021. Since 2020, there was an increase of 13% in cyberattacks, which is an average of 1,582 attacks per organization weekly.
• IBM’s report on cybercrimes is very important because 95% of cybersecurity breaches are due to human error.
• The healthcare sector is the most expensive for data breaches. In 2020 alone, the healthcare industry lost around $7.18 million.
• Ransomware attacks are so frequent that it’s estimated that a business fall victim to one every 11 seconds.
• Google detected over 2 million phishing websites in 2020.
• It takes an average of 280 days to discover and avert a cybersecurity breach.
• Edges can report the most common types of cyberattack across all networks is Crypto weaknesses (39.7%), followed by Cross-site scripting (12%), and System patching related (8%).

In the year ahead the threat landscape is going to evolve and expand. Cyber security specialists expect that ransomware gangs will continue putting lives at risk, and much more. So, we have to be very careful in 2022 as well. Here are key cybersecurity trends organizations need to be prepared for in 2022.

Types of Cybercrimes:

Cybercrime is a criminal activity that targets people or businesses. Most cybercrimes are committed by organized cyber groups, cybercriminals, or hackers who want to make money. There are two main categories of cybercrimes: a criminal activity that targets and criminal activity that uses computers to commit other crimes. Here are the different types of cybercrime according to Kaspersky USA:

• E-mail and internet fraud.
• Identity fraud – stolen personal information, including credit card fraud, bank or loan frauds, government benefits.
• Financial frauds, including payments.
• Corporate data thefts.
• Cyberextortion – demanding money to prevent a threatened attack)
• Ransomware attacks.
• Malware infection – Malware usually infiltrates companies through email spam. If an employee accidentally clicks on the link, then malware is automatically downloaded onto that employees’ computer and navigates your company network.
• Cryptojacking – when hackers mine cryptocurrency using other people’s or companies’ resources.
• Cyberespionage – Stealing information from a company or government to steal their sensitive data or intellectual property to gain an advantage over a competitor.

The similarities are likely to be continued targeting of the supply chain and ransomware still prevalent, with cyber an enabler for the conventional crime. It is likely, however, that operational technology (for example, in the critical national infrastructure) and the internet of things (IoT) will be more of a target as the software they run on is often old and unpatched. In 2022, it’s predicted that Cybercriminals will continue to attack businesses with various cybercrime. As Anne Neuberger, the Deputy National Security Advisor, Cyber & Emerging Tech at National Security Council, warns us there is no company safe from being targeted by ransomware, regardless of the size of the company or the location where they operate.

This letter was sent earlier this year after an attack on the Colonial Pipeline, JBS, and other organizations.

The organizations that are the most vulnerable to be attacked are those which fell behind on patching and updating on-prem networks while focusing on accommodating remote workers and the prevalence of “Ransomware as a Service” will make it easier for unpracticed individuals to commit this type of cybercrime.

Far Out Solutions have operated since 2003 and we make your business easier with a reliable IT infrastructure. Far Out Solutions is an award-winning company that can help you to protect your home office or your business from various cybercrimes.

Cloud computing has enabled workforces to access vital resources from anywhere. With the rise of cloud computing and companies working fully remotely, there was a high rise in cloud attacks.

However, belief in cloud services comes with additional IT security challenges, such as misconfigurations and access management issues, according to the NCSA.

Subsequently, as companies continue to ramp up cloud adoption in 2022, cloud security posture management will become a top priority for security leaders.

The importance of security awareness

If your employees fulfill their professional obligations off-site, you should update your training program to include guidance for remote workers.

Cybercriminals will continue to use social engineering tactics to infiltrate corporate networks in 2020, as Isaca’s article “Assessing the State of Cybersecurity in 2021 and Preparing for 2022” says, businesses will invest in ongoing employee security awareness training programs so that they can stop staff members from falling for phishing messages and other scams.

However, in the coming years, businesses are expected to consolidate and look for suppliers that can serve as one-stop shops for multiple cloud-delivered security products. According to Gartner’s article, 30% of enterprises will obtain cloud-delivered secure web gateway by 2024.

How can I keep myself safe from cyberattacks in 2022?

Think you’re not worth being the target of online predators? then think again! They don’t want you to be safe and count on you to think that you’re not a target.

How can we reduce the chances of falling for the scams?

Here are the 4 basic things you can do to avoid cyber threats:

1. Hire Far Out Solutions, an experienced team that knows how to protect you so you no longer need to worry about cyber threats.
2. Implement multi-factor authentication that makes you 99% less likely to get hacked.
3. Update your software or turn on automatic updates.
4. Think before you click, because more than 90% of successful cyber-attacks start with a phishing email.
5. Use strong passwords.

So, while there will be a continuous increase in reliance on digital and data, we need to be careful, take into consideration what cybersecurity specialists are saying to protect our systems and processes. If we do so, we can think about new ways to improve our business, we can seize the opportunities offered by new technologies to grow safely in the digital world.