Cybersecurity News & Trends for October 28, 2022

SonicWall brings you important news stories and trends affecting your security. It’s Cybersecurity Awareness Week. Stay safe!

In this week’s Cybersecurity News, SonicWall got a lot of coverage from several leading industry and business journals with new mentions of our Cyber Threat Reports and the 2022 SonicWall Threat Mindset Survey.

From Industry News, our big read is on the high stress and burnout rates among IT response teams faced with a steady onslaught of attacks, with contributions from ZDNet, Dark Reading, Wall Street Journal and Forbes. From Security Magazine, CISA released the first iteration of critical infrastructure cybersecurity performance goals. It’s not a spellbinding read, but it shows where the national focus is heading. From Bleeping Computer, the tabloid newspaper New York Post was hacked with offensive headlines that targeted politicians. Late breaking news, the hack was an inside job. TechCrunch says business startups need to do a better job with cybersecurity, noting that the DOJ declared 2021 as the “worst year” for ransom attacks and that 2022 might soon overtake that record. Finally, Hacker News reports that hackers from the Daixin Team are targeting health organizations with ransomware.

It’s still Cybersecurity Awareness Month. Keep an eye on the SonicWall blog for updates and remember that cybersecurity is everyone’s business. Be safe out there!

SonicWall News

2022 Cyber Threat Report Details Growing Trends

TechRepublic, SonicWall News: The cyberthreat landscape is constantly evolving, with new attacks developing every day. In their new report, SonicWall explores some of the most dangerous trends that security professionals need to have on their radar.

Economic Strife Fuels Cyber Anxiety

HelpNetSecurity, SonicWall News: The 2022 SonicWall Threat Mindset Survey found that 66% of customers are more concerned about cyberattacks in 2022, with the main threat being focused on financially motivated attacks like ransomware.

Ransomware In the US Is Down 51% Compared To 2021

Security Magazine, SonicWall News: There were more than 4 billion malware attempts globally in Q3, while year-to-date ransomware attempts in 2022 have already exceeded full-year totals from four of the last five years. However, ransomware levels in the United States are trending down, with a decrease of 51% of ransomware attack volume compared to 2021 levels.

Ransomware Attacks Are Down This Year – But That’s Not Really a Great Thing

TechRadarPro, SonicWall News: Despite it never being easier to launch a ransomware (opens in new tab) attack, the number of such incidents has actually dropped year-on-year, a new report from cybersecurity company SonicWall has claimed. The company’s latest threat intelligence paper, covering Q3 2022, says that in the US alone, the number of ransomware attacks was cut in half (-51%). However, other parts of the world came into focus, with attacks rising by 20% in the UK, 38% in the EMEA region, and 56% in APJ, compared to the same timeframe, last year.

Hackers Increasingly Targeting IoT Devices

TechMonitor, SonicWall News: In the last quarter of this year there has been a 98% rise in malware detected targeting IoT (internet of things) devices, according to a new report by threat intelligence agency SonicWall. It comes as the number of never-before-seen malware variants also spiked, rising by 22% year-on-year.

Ransomware Down This Year – But There’s a Catch

The Register, SonicWall News: The number of ransomware attacks worldwide dropped 31 percent year-over-year during the first nine of months 2022, at least as far as SonicWall has observed. But don’t get too excited. While that may sound like great news, there’s a catch. According to SonicWall CEO Robert VanKirk, the decline follows a record-setting spike in 2021. Without that outlier, the ransomware rate this year shows a steady increase over 2017 through 2020. In fact, the nine-month total of 338.4 million ransomware attempts this year is more than the full-year totals in every year except 2021.

Latest SonicWall Intelligence Reveals Unstable Cyber Threat Landscape

PR Newswire, SonicWall News: SonicWall recorded more than 4 billion malware attempts globally while year-to-date ransomware attempts in 2022 have already exceeded full-year totals from four of the last five years. In the recent 2022 SonicWall Cyber Threat Mindset Survey, 91% of organizations reported that they are most concerned about ransomware attacks, indicating a rise of anxiety among security professionals.

Seven Things You Need to Know About No-Code Tools

TechPoint, SonicWall in the News: Cyberattacks have risen globally, with more people working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to the 2022 Cyber Threat Report released by cybersecurity company, SonicWall, governments witnessed a 1,885% rise in ransomware attacks.

How High Touch Technologies Renewed Their Cyber Insurance Policy

Security Boulevard, SonicWall in the News: The massive spike in ransomware attacks in 2021 – up 105% worldwide, according to SonicWall – left cyber insurance companies facing an exponential increase in claims at the end of last year. In response, insurers tightened their requirements this year, releasing a long list of specific conditions companies now need to meet in order to qualify for a policy.

For Most Companies’ Ransomware Is the Scariest of All Cyberattacks

HelpNetSecurity, SonicWall in the News: SonicWall released the 2022 SonicWall Threat Mindset Survey which found that 66% of customers are more concerned about cyberattacks in 2022, with the main threat being focused on financially motivated attacks like ransomware.

Ingram Micro Ties Up with SonicWall to Expand Their Security Services

CRN (India), SonicWall in the News: SonicWall has designed its MSSP Program to offer a broad suite of cyber defense tools and capabilities to extend end-to-end network security. Ingram Micro will distribute all SonicWall products through its extensive partner network across India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Industry News

Big Read: Cybersecurity teams at their breaking point

Our big read for the week is on the growing number of reports of IT network security teams hit was stress and burnout. Faced with an utterly endlessly expanding threat landscape, companies report high absenteeism and turnover rates. So the big question is, should we be worried?

First up, ZDNet reports that cybersecurity professionals are “reaching their breaking point” as ransomware attacks increase and create new risks for people and businesses, according to a global study of 1,100 cybersecurity professionals. The report says that one-third are considering leaving their role in the next two years due to stress and burnout. And Dark Reading cited the same study, noting that more than half (54%) of those surveyed told researchers ransomware attacks had put a strain on their mental health, while a full 56% say their job gets more challenging each year. And the stress is severely eroding IT Team’s feeling of personal responsibility if an attack is successful, comparing last year, when 71% of respondents said they felt “very personally responsible” compared to this year at 57%.

Earlier this month, Wall Street Journal reported that IT teams that respond to hacks say they are stretched thin as attacks become more proliferate. They cite that teams work on multiple cases simultaneously and that the onslaught of attacks contributes to burnout. In addition, the report points out that hackers often launch attacks on weekends or before major holidays. For example, a ransomware attack on meatpacker JBS USA Holdings Inc. occurred at the start of the Memorial Day weekend in 2021. In the case of the Los Angeles Unified School District, school systems were hit on Labor Day weekend, forcing incident responders from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the district to work well into the night on a Sunday.

Forbes published an article about the cost of maintaining cybersecurity defenses in the face of mounting threats, citing a Gartner survey that says 88% of respondents consider cybersecurity a business risk, and 66% intend to increase cybersecurity spending to enhance their defensive postures in the years to come. The focus on investment, they say, will be on people, processes, and technology. They may have to add counseling to some of that cost.

CISA Releases Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Performance Goals

Security Magazine: The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released the first iteration of the Cross-Sector Cybersecurity Performance Goals (CPGs). The National Security Memorandum (NSM)-5, titled “Improving Cybersecurity Control Systems” requires CISA to work with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop baseline cybersecurity goals that are consistent across all critical infrastructure sectors. Alongside NIST, CISA will regularly update goals at least every 6 to 12 months and will work with Sector Risk Management Agencies (SRMAs) to build on this foundation to develop sector-specific goals. Not an exciting read, but it does help us understand where the national focus is headed.

New York Post Hacked with Offensive Headlines Targeting Politicians

BleepingComputer: The tabloid newspaper New York Post confirmed yesterday that it was hacked after its website and Twitter account were used by the attackers to publish offensive headlines and tweets targeting Democrat politicians. The New York Post updated today that one of its employees (now fired) was behind the incident.

Business Startup Need to do Better with Cybersecurity

TechCrunch: Back in 2021, the Department of Justice (DOJ) famously declared 2021 as the “worst year” for ransomware attacks, but according to SonicWall’s own reporting, that title could be in 2022’s hands very soon. Despite some rare wins in the war against hackers over the past 12 months — from the government’s seizure of $2.3 million in bitcoin paid out to the Colonial Pipeline hackers, to its successful disruption of the notorious REvil gang — the ransomware threat continues to grow. Over the past few months alone, we’ve seen threat actors ramping up attacks against public sector organizations, including hospitals, schools and in the case of Costa Rica, entire governments. The private sector is also battling a worsening ransomware threat, with attackers claiming a number of high-profile victims such as AMD, Foxconn and Nvidia.

Hackers Targeting Health Organizations with Ransomware

The Hacker News: U.S. cybersecurity and intelligence agencies published a joint advisory warning of attacks perpetrated by a cybercrime gang that is primarily targeting the healthcare sector in the country. According to the warning, the Daixin Team is a ransomware and data extortion group that has targeted the HPH Sector with ransomware and data extortion operations since at least June 2022.

The alert was published Friday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Over the past four months, the group has been linked to multiple ransomware incidents in the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) sector, encrypting servers related to electronic health records, diagnostics, imaging, and intranet services.

It’s also said to have exfiltrated personal identifiable information (PII) and patient health information (PHI) as part of a double extortion scheme to secure ransoms from victims.