Organizations are detecting Ransomware decline but Volume & Impact of Targeted attacks continue to Rise.
In the recently conducted survey, FortiGuard Labs observed a decline in organizations detecting ransomware, significant activity among advanced persistent threat (APT) groups, a shift in MITRE ATT&CK techniques used by attackers, and much more.
While organizations continue to find themselves in a reactive position due to the growing sophistication of malicious actors and the escalation of targeted attacks, ongoing analysis of the threat landscape in the 1H 2023 Global Threat Landscape Report helps provide valuable intelligence that can serve as an early warning system of potential threat activity and help security leaders prioritize their security strategy and patching efforts.
FortiGuard Labs has documented substantial spikes in ransomware variant growth in recent years, largely fueled by the adoption of Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS). However, FortiGuard Labs found that fewer organizations detected ransomware in the first half of 2023 (13%) compared to this time five years ago (22%). Despite the overall decline, organizations must keep their guard up. Research also found that the volume of ransomware detections continues to be volatile, closing 1H 2023 13x higher than the end of 2022 but still on a downward trend overall when comparing year-over-year.
Research revealed that 41 (30%) of the 138 cyberthreat groups MITRE tracks were active in the 1H 2023. Of those, Turla, StrongPity, Winnti, OceanLotus, and WildNeutron were the most active based on malware detections. Given the targeted nature and relatively short-lived campaigns of APT and nation-state cyber groups compared to the long life and drawn-out campaigns of cybercriminals, the evolution and volume of activity in this area will be something to look forward to in future reports.
Five-Year Comparison Reveals Explosion in Unique Exploits, Malware Variants and Botnet Persistence:
- Unique Exploits on the Rise
- Malware Families and Variants Exploded, Up 135% and 175% Respectively
- Botnets Lingering in Networks Longer Than Ever
