Image: iStock/nuclear-lily
In recent months cyberattacks have increased as criminals look to exploit the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, the FBI reported a fourfold increase in cybercriminal activity earlier this year. To help detail recent attack trends, cybersecurity technology company, Lumu, published a 2020 Ransomware Flashcard. Overall, the Lumu flashcard essentially functions as an all-in-one infographic compiling 2020 ransomware trends from an amalgam of sources across the cybersecurity industry.
SEE: Identity theft protection policy (TechRepublic Premium)
Ransomware: Frequency, affected sectors, global trends, and more
In one section, the flashcard categorizes cyberattacks into three categories (data breach, malicious breach, and ransomware attacks) to provide a comparative analysis of the average cost of each type of attack. The average cost of a data breach is $3.86 million, a malicious breach cost $4.27 million, and a ransomware attack costs about $4.44 million, according to IBM’s 2020 Cost of a Data Breach report.
A portion of the flashcard provides a global view of ransomware attacks based on CyberEdge’s 2020 “Cyberthreat Defense Report.” In North America, ransomware attacks affected nearly seven-in-10 companies (69%) compared to 55% of companies in Asia and Oceania. Ransomware attacks affected about six-in-10 (61%) companies in both Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa compared to 57% of European companies.
Image: Lumu
Another section of the flashcard breaks down ransomware attacks by industry using Safety Detectives’ 2020 “Ransomware Facts, Trends & Statistics” report. In North America, the governmental sector topped all listed industries with 15.4% of these bodies reporting a ransomware attack in the previous year.
Manufacturing organizations ranked second with 13.9% of companies in this sector reporting a ransomware attack in the last 12 months, followed by the construction industry with 13.2%. On the other end of the spectrum, 4.6% of financial organizations and 5% of education bodies reported a ransomware attack during this time period.
Image: Lumu
SEE: Social engineering: A cheat sheet for business professionals (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
Increased cyberattacks and organizational planning
Additionally, the flashcard also highlights forecasted trends in cyberattacks using a Cybersecurity Ventures report. Based on these estimates, the cumulative cost of cyberattacks could rise to $20 billion by 2021 from $11.5 billion in 2019. By 2021, a ransomware attack is expected to take place every 11 seconds according to this data. However, about one-quarter (28%) of small and midsized businesses (SMBs) lack a plan designed to mitigate ransomware attacks, according to a 2020 Infrascale survey.
