BlackBerry Limited published its Quarterly Global Threat Intelligence Report in late April, showing an increase in the number of cyberattacks directed at financial institutions. During the reporting period examined, they say 60 per cent of all attacks targeted financial companies, food retailers and healthcare providers.
The top 10 countries experiencing cyber attacks in the first quarter of 2023 include the United States in the number one spot, followed by Brazil and Canada as being the second and third most targeted countries.
The report discusses the freely and cheaply available malware-as-a-service (MaaS) offerings available. “They’re powerful in their functionality, such as for use in stealing data and creating backdoors,” the company states, adding that the use of deepfakes and artificial intelligence (AI) in the overall threat landscape have also gained traction.
“To effectively manage risk, security leaders must continually analyze the global threat landscape,” the report states. “From December 2022 to February 2023, we observed up to 12 attacks per minute and the number of unique attacks using new malware samples skyrocketed by 50 per cent – from one per minute in the previous report to 1.5 per minute during this reporting period.”
The report goes on to look at attack types, threat actors, campaigns, most common weapons used, and actionable defensive countermeasures. “Additionally, this report dives deep into attacks against government entities, manufacturing and critical infrastructure,” they add.
During the reporting period, financial institutions running the company’s technologies reported an average of 2,601 malware attacks occurring each day.
