The recently published Verizon 2022 Data Breach Investigations (DBI) Report revealed the growth in the number of cyber threats in different fields, including the healthcare one. The most prevalent cyber threats in the health sphere appeared to be cyber attacks on web-based applications and secured structure breakage.
What is Verizon DBI Report?
For more than a decade, Verizon has published its Data Breach Investigations (DBI) Reports analyzing the cybersecurity landscape during the year in different areas. According to the latest report, the last year appeared to be the harshest when it comes to cyber threats. Attacks were led not only by the initiative of hackers but, unfortunately, also by government sponsorship of such malicious activity.
Verizon admitted the alarming increase in ransomware attacks by thirteen percent in 2021 compared with the previous year. According to the report, ransomware is not only the way to use privileges of suffered individuals’ networks but also an excellent method of unauthorized access and private information monetization. So, the rise in threats was more rapid than in the last five years. Also, previous year ransomware appeared in more than 20% of data breaches.
What did the Recent Verizon DBI Report Show?
Verizon developed the Data Breach Investigations (DBI) Report together with its 87 partners. They used more than 23.5K security violation cases. More than 5K of them are the approved data breaches. According to the report, 849 security violation cases occurred in the health field, and more than 570 of them led to the approved data breaches. In the 2021 Verizon DBI Report, 655 security violation cases were in the care sphere. At the same time, more than 470 of them led to approved data breaches.
Also, the Verizon DBI Report states that the human factor still plays a huge role in data breach cases. More than 80% of all data breaches last year referred to the human factor issue. More than 10% related to the wrong configuration, and 25% of all breaches resulted from social engineering attacks. It highlights the importance of the best means of email security introduction and the essentiality of systematical workforce education regarding security.
What were the Main Strategies of Attacks?
The first and most widely used strategy of ransomware attacks mainly was the usage of stolen desktop sharing systems’ accounting data. This way gave cyber villains the initial access in case of almost half of the attacks. The second one is phishing. This strategy provided the first access in more than 30% of ransomware attacks, after this pursued exploitation of weak points of web-based applications and direct installations. The large amount of threats related to remote desktop systems and electronic mail highlights the necessity of Remote Desktop Protocol blocking and email protection.
The growing ransomware is of concern, and supply chain attacks constitute more than 60% of system intrusion cases. The attack on supply chains is more natural to threaten financially motivated actors. They include 95% of all supply chains attack. But also, there is a motivation behind the government sponsors to get constant access to systems to conduct spying. It is 4% of overall supply chain threats.
The TOP of the Best Cyber Attack Methodologies
As a result, the most popular cyberattack methodology is system intrusions. The second one is cyber attacks on web-based apps, and the last one is social engineering. As for the healthcare field, there is a different picture. The main reasons for data breaches were attacks on web-based applications, various issues, and system intrusions. They constitute more than 75% of all data breaches.
How to Defend Against Attacks Under the Verizon DBI Report?
Of course, internal dangers such as human factor issues are still in place. But it is vital to pay attention to external hazards. So, to protect themselves from cyber threats, organizations should undertake appropriate measures to respond effectively to phishing, accounting data stealing, weak spots misusage, and bot networks. Thus, the Verizon DBI Report encourages organizations that it’s essential to keep balance and pay attention to both factors while implementing security procedures.
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