The Most Rampant Threats of 2022
In the past year, 96 percent of CEOs and executives experienced security breaches, according to a global survey conducted by Palo Alto. The speakers detailed the four biggest attack types of 2022 as defined in that survey, ranked by impact.
1. Ransomware
Olson noted that ransomware increased in 2022. Once hybrid work became the new “status quo,” Olson said, “unsecured third-party devices were being used everywhere, and a massive shift to multi-cloud environments left cybersecurity teams scrambling to secure more cyberthreats than ever.”
This shift left organizations more exposed, making it easier for hackers to attempt deployment of enterprise-wide ransomware. Threat actors can spend an average of 28 days in a targeted environment before being detected, according to Unit 42’s 2022 “Incident Response Report.
2. Business Email Compromise BEC
BEC hacks cost companies over 43 billion dollars this year, according to Whitmore. Olson added that Unit 42 tracked at least 19,000 BEC cases in 2022. BEC is “relatively easy to misjudge because it operates under the radar,” Whitmore said.
Essentially, an outside hacker will write an email to a person inside the organization requesting access to the network. The hackers will then get an accounting rep to authorize a fake invoice to transfer payment to them. “Out of all the scams, this one is really embarrassing,” Olson said, and business leaders often are reluctant to talk about it.