SonicWall: IT Threats Surged in 2021

SonicWall, a Milpitas, California-based cybersecurity company, has released a report pointing to a huge surge in cyberattacks.

According to the 2022 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report, ransomware has shown a meteoric rise with 623.3 million attacks globally; an increase of 105%. Ransomware volume has risen 232% since 2019, according to the report. In addition to businesses, state and federal governments, schools, hospitals and even individuals, attacks hit supply chains, causing widespread system downtime, economic loss, and reputational damage. Following global trends, all industries faced large increases of ransomware volume, including government (+1,885%), healthcare (755%), education (152%) and retail (21%).

Nearly all monitored threats, cyberattacks and malicious digital assaults rose in 2021 including encrypted threats, IoT malware and crypto-jacking.

“Cyberattacks become more attractive and potentially more disastrous as dependence on information technology increases,” said SonicWall President and CEO Bill Conner. “Securing information in a boundless world is a near impossible and thankless job, especially as the boundaries of organizations are ever-expanding to limitless endpoints and networks.”

Encrypted threats increased 167% year-over-year. In August, the number of encrypted attacks broke the 1 million mark for the first time, then continued to rise, reaching nearly 2.5 million by year’s end.

Cryptojacking continued to surge last year, rising 19% globally to 97.1 million, which is the most attacks that SonicWall Capture Labs threat researchers have ever recorded in a single year.

The data were gathered from more than a million security sensors in nearly 215 countries and territories.

Channel Impact^®
Cyberattacks continue to be a mystery to businesses both large and small. Channel partners can fill a necessary role in helping customers to assess their risks and get the most out of their cybersecurity investments.