Up and To the Right: Ransomware Attacks Grow by 105% in 2021
New data from Sonicwall shows the numbers of nearly every type of attack growing in 2021, with concerns by organizations about attacks and their aftermath at an all-time high.
We’ve been talking about the growth in ransomware over the last year many times in this blog; it’s likely the most prolific and damaging type of cyberattack to-date. In security vendor Sonicwall’s 2022 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report, we get a “looking back” perspective of just how pervasive ransomware was in 2021.
According to the report, they saw 623 million ransomware attacks – a growth of 105%. That’s 1.7 million attacks each day! And with the growth of multi-factor extortion in 2021, it’s more and more likely many of these attacks were successful, despite staying out of the limelight of the press.
Sonicwall also found many other types of attacks growing in 2021:
Source: Sonicwall
Beyond the growth seen nearly across the board, the number of malware attacks alone is staggering. 5.4 billion malware attacks – despite dropping by 4% – still represents 171 attacks every second last year!
Additionally, they cited concerns from another study done with Osterman Research that shows ransomware attacks are the number two concern by organizations, just behind targeted phishing attacks (which are currently tied for the top spot as the primary initial attack vector for ransomware attacks). Organizations need to shore up their two top concerns with Security Awareness Training; by educating users to not engage with malicious content in email and on the web, the likelihood of ransomware attacks (or any other via phishing or social engineering) succeeding reduces dramatically.
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
- Tests 23 types of infection scenarios
- Just download the install and run it
- Results in a few minutes!
PS: Don’t like to click on redirected buttons? Cut & Paste this link in your browser: https://info.knowbe4.com/ransomware-simulator-tool-partner?partnerid=001a000001lWEoJAAW