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Cyberattacks are getting smarter: employees are on the front lines of threats.
In the second quarter of 2024, Positive Technologies experts recorded an increase in the activity of cybercriminals, who are increasingly using social engineering methods and malicious software to attack organizations and individuals.
According to the study, 83% of all cyberattacks in the reporting period were carried out via emails. In 51% of successful attacks on organizations, social engineering techniques were used, when attackers manipulate employees to gain access to confidential information. For example, in May, the Hive0117 cyber group conducted a phishing campaign by sending emails to company employees disguised as correspondence with colleagues. One of these emails contained a password-protected archive with malicious DarkWatchman software. The message gave the impression of urgency, referring to a tax audit, and asked to send the file to the accountant. Such attacks have a high success rate, as emails supposedly sent by colleagues inspire more trust among recipients.
Attackers actively use malicious software (malware) in their attacks. According to experts, in 64% of cases, cybercriminals resort to the use of malware, and the number of incidents involving the use of remote access Trojans (RATs) continues to grow. In the second quarter of 2024, the share of such attacks increased by 9% compared to the first quarter and reached 41% among organizations and 42% among individuals.
Positive Technologies experts also note an increase in the number of attacks using skimmers, tools for reading bank card data. The share of payment information among stolen data increased by 9% and reached 22%. One of the reasons for this growth is the emergence of a new web tool, Caesar Cipher, which targets content management systems such as WordPress and Magento. Attackers use the obtained data for further attacks or sell it on the black market.
To protect against such threats, experts recommend that individuals carefully check emails, even if they come from familiar recipients, do not open password-protected archives, and study suspicious messages by contacting the sender through other channels. Software developers are advised to regularly update their source code management tools, as well as to check packages using specialized tools. Organizations need to periodically inventory their IT assets, implement strict access policies, and use modern security tools such as next-generation firewalls and security incident monitoring systems.
In the context of the increasing complexity of cyberattacks and the growing number of malware, experts emphasize the importance of actively implementing modern protection technologies and constant security monitoring to prevent possible incidents.
Source
In the second quarter of 2024, Positive Technologies experts recorded an increase in the activity of cybercriminals, who are increasingly using social engineering methods and malicious software to attack organizations and individuals.
According to the study, 83% of all cyberattacks in the reporting period were carried out via emails. In 51% of successful attacks on organizations, social engineering techniques were used, when attackers manipulate employees to gain access to confidential information. For example, in May, the Hive0117 cyber group conducted a phishing campaign by sending emails to company employees disguised as correspondence with colleagues. One of these emails contained a password-protected archive with malicious DarkWatchman software. The message gave the impression of urgency, referring to a tax audit, and asked to send the file to the accountant. Such attacks have a high success rate, as emails supposedly sent by colleagues inspire more trust among recipients.
Attackers actively use malicious software (malware) in their attacks. According to experts, in 64% of cases, cybercriminals resort to the use of malware, and the number of incidents involving the use of remote access Trojans (RATs) continues to grow. In the second quarter of 2024, the share of such attacks increased by 9% compared to the first quarter and reached 41% among organizations and 42% among individuals.
Positive Technologies experts also note an increase in the number of attacks using skimmers, tools for reading bank card data. The share of payment information among stolen data increased by 9% and reached 22%. One of the reasons for this growth is the emergence of a new web tool, Caesar Cipher, which targets content management systems such as WordPress and Magento. Attackers use the obtained data for further attacks or sell it on the black market.
To protect against such threats, experts recommend that individuals carefully check emails, even if they come from familiar recipients, do not open password-protected archives, and study suspicious messages by contacting the sender through other channels. Software developers are advised to regularly update their source code management tools, as well as to check packages using specialized tools. Organizations need to periodically inventory their IT assets, implement strict access policies, and use modern security tools such as next-generation firewalls and security incident monitoring systems.
In the context of the increasing complexity of cyberattacks and the growing number of malware, experts emphasize the importance of actively implementing modern protection technologies and constant security monitoring to prevent possible incidents.
Source
