Hackers are increasing their capabilities due to the proliferation of affordable, customizable and accessible tools available for their use, says a new report by IDefense, part of Accenture Security.

The 2017 Cyber Threatscape Report looks at the “increased prevalence of destructive attacks and adversary denial and deception tactics; the aggressive use of information operations by nation-states; growth in the numbers and diversity of threat actors; as well as the greater availability of exploits, tools, encryption, and anonymous payment systems available to malicious actors,” says Accenture.

An evolution of ransomware

“The first six months of 2017 have seen an evolution of ransomware producing more viral variants unleashed by potential state-sponsored actors and cybercriminals. Our findings confirm that a new bar has been set for cybersecurity teams across all industries to defend their assets in the coming months,” said Josh Ray, managing director at Accenture Security. “While the occurrence of new cyberattack methods is not going away, there are immediate actions companies can take to better protect themselves against malicious ransomware and reduce the impact of security breaches.”

To learn more, read the full report here.