How to Keep Your Data Safe in Today’s World
(StatePoint) Is your data secure? Whether you’re a typical consumer gearing up with smart home technology or a business owner with dozens of clients, understanding the latest trends in cybercrime can help you protect what matters.
Enter the latest updates from the SonicWall Cyber Threat Report, which provide key insights into current threats based on real-world data from more than 1 million international security sensors in over 200 countries. While the report found that global malware volume is down 20 percent, a spike in other forms of cyberattack means that consumers and organizations need to stay vigilant. Here are a few key findings and what they could mean for you:
• A 15 percent increase in ransomware attacks globally highlight criminals’ new preference of ransomware-as-a-service and open-source malware kits as means of attack.
• There’s nothing “smart” about it when connected devices become a target for cybercrime. In the first half of 2019, there was a 55 percent increase in Internet of Things attacks, a number that outpaces the first two quarters of 2018. These findings are a good warning to businesses and consumers to never connect home or office devices to the internet without first taking proper security measures.
• Cryptojacking experienced a 9 percent increase over the last six months of 2018. Though a rise in bitcoin and Monero prices is great for cryptocurrency investors on its face, it also makes cryptojacking a more lucrative option for cybercriminals.
• Cybercriminals have their sights set on non-standard ports for web traffic as a manner to deliver viruses undetected. Based on a sample size of more than 210 million malware attacks recorded through June 2019, Capture Labs monitored the largest spike on record since tracking the vector, when one quarter of malware attacks came across non-standard ports in May 2019 alone.
• Some of the most ubiquitous and trusted types of files you download could actually be dangerous. In February and March 2019, 51 percent and 47 percent of “never-before-seen” attacks, respectively, came via PDFs or Office files.
For full report data, visit sonicwall.com/ThreatReport.
“Individuals and organizations continue struggling to track the evolving patterns of cyberattacks, making it extremely difficult for them to defend themselves without assistance,” says SonicWall president and CEO, Bill Conner. “Being proactive against constantly-changing attack strategies involves harnessing innovative technology, such as machine learning.”
To that end, consider breach detection and prevention services that use machine learning to adapt and proactively guard against attacks, such as SonicWall, which has been fighting the cybercriminal industry for over 27 years and is backed by research from SonicWall Capture Labs. For more information, visit sonicwall.com.
As cybercrime evolves, be sure your means to protect yourself has too. With vigilance, staying connected fearlessly is possible for any organization, individual or household.
