The Number of Daily Ransomware Attacks Increase Nearly 1000% in 2021
New analysis of cyberattack data by security vendor Fortinet sheds light on not only how much ransomware is really being experienced, but who’s being attacked the most.
Just when I think I’ve seen it all, yet another stat from a new report shocks me. This time it comes from Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs 1H 2021 Global Threat Landscape Report and revolves around the currently-observed state of ransomware. According to the report, ransomware is increasingly being felt by more and more organizations:
- The weekly average number of ransomware attacks detected in June of 2021 was over 149,000. A year prior, it was only 14,000 – making an increase of 966%
- Over one-third of businesses in the Automotive, MSSP, Government, and Telecommunications industries and one-quarter nearly all other sectors experienced ransomware attacks
- The report noted that “the key takeaway is that ransomware is a clear and present danger regardless of industry or size.”
This data not only corroborates previously observed increases this year in the number of ransomware attacks, but helps to substantiate the kinds of organizations (the Fortinet report list over 20 industry verticals) that are consistently being targeted and – therefore – should be proactively putting protective measures in place.
This should include Security Awareness Training to enable users to stop email-based attacks that successfully make it past a layered set of security solutions designed to stop phishing, social engineering, and malware in its tracks.
Free Ransomware Simulator Tool
Threat actors are constantly coming out with new strains to evade detection. Is your network effective in blocking all of them when employees fall for social engineering attacks?
KnowBe4’s “RanSim” gives you a quick look at the effectiveness of your existing network protection. RanSim will simulate 22 ransomware infection scenarios and 1 cryptomining infection scenario and show you if a workstation is vulnerable.
Here’s how it works:
- 100% harmless simulation of real ransomware and cryptomining infections
- Does not use any of your own files
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- Just download the install and run it
- Results in a few minutes!
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