Study: Cyberattacks Surge over the Past Year

Check Point Software Technologies, a San Carlos, California-based cybersecurity provider, has published a study suggesting that there are 40% more attacks weekly on organizations in 2021 compared to 2020.

In September 2021, the average weekly number of attacks on each organization globally reached its peak with over 870 attacks. This is more than double the number of attacks in March 2020.

While Africa is the most targeted region for cyberattacks, Europe and North America faced the biggest increases in cyberattacks between 2020 and 2021. Organizations in Africa experienced the highest volume of attacks so far in 2021, with an average of 1,615 weekly attacks per organization. This is a 15% increase from last year. This is followed by APAC with an average of 1,299 weekly attacks per organization (20% increase), followed by Latin America with an average of 1,117 attacks weekly (37% increase), Europe with 665 (65% increase) and North America with 497 (57% increase).
The sectors which are experiencing the highest volumes of cyberattacks are Education/Research with an average of 1,468 attacks per organization each week (increase of 60% from 2020), followed by Government/Military with 1,082 (40% increase) and Healthcare with 752 (55% increase).

The report observed that globally in 2021, on average, one out of every 61 organizations is impacted by ransomware each week – a 9% increase compared to 2020. The ISP/MSP sector is the industry most attacked by ransomware this year. The average weekly number of impacted organizations in this sector in 2021 is one out of 36 (32% increase from 2020). Healthcare is in second place with one out of 44 organizations having been impacted (39% increase) followed by software vendors in third place with one out of 52 organizations (21% increase).

APAC is seeing the highest volume of attack attempts by ransomware with one out of 34 organizations being impacted every week in 2021. This is a 10% decrease compared to 2020. This is followed by Africa with one out of 48 organizations being impacted (7% decrease) and Latin America with one out of 57 organizations (6% increase).

“Since the outbreak of the pandemic globally, cyber criminals have sprung into action to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them,” said research group manager Omer Dembinsky. “With the continued rise in cyberattacks, Check Point Software recommends that organizations adopt a preventive approach to cybersecurity, rather than work on remediation after the fact when damage has been inflicted.”

The data used in this report was generated by Check Point Software’s threat prevention technologies combined with AI-enriched threat intelligence derived from hundreds of millions of sensors worldwide, over networks, endpoint devices and mobiles.

Channel Impact^®
Globally in 2021, one out of every 61 organizations is impacted by ransomware each week. Channel partners can be the first line of defense in keeping their customers safe.

Rubrik Launches Ransomware Recovery Warranty

Rubrik, a Palo Alto-based Zero Trust security company, has rolled out a Ransomware recovery warranty designed to ensure that customers will be able to recover their data in the wake of cyberattacks and operational failures.

“With ransomware attacks increasing more than any time in history, having a recoverable copy of your data has become a top agenda item for CIOs and CISOs, and we understand how important data security is to ensuring the security of a business,” said Rubrik CEO and co-founder Bipul Sinha.

This offer will be available for Rubrik customers running Rubrik Enterprise Edition and working with a Rubrik Customer Experience Manager (CEM). The warranty will cover expenses related to data recovery and restoration in the event that Rubrik is unable to recover protected data in the event of a ransomware attack.

“This warranty underscores Rubrik’s confidence in their data security products and in their ability to recover their customer’s data after a cyberattack,” said Rubrik customer Matthew Day, CIO of Langs Building Supplies. “This sets the standard for what it means to be a strategic data security partner and shows Rubrik fully supports customers.”

The Rubrik platform includes Zero Trust Data Protection, ransomware investigation, incident containment, sensitive data discovery, and orchestrated application recovery.

Channel Impact^®
The warranty is likely to turn some heads in the channel, as well as in the customer base, as ransomware continues to surge.