Cybercrime surged in Q2 2021, FS targeted the most among Cloud incidents

By Gaia Lamperti

The shift to a more flexible pandemic workforce and the growth in digitisation of processes presented cybercriminals with more potential exploits and targets in prominent sectors. This year, financial services were targeted the most among reported Cloud incidents, according to the Advanced Threat Research Report: October 2021 released today by computer security software company McAfee Enterprise.

The report, released each quarter, assesses the state of the cybercrime landscape based on in-depth research, investigative analysis, and threat data gathered by the McAfee Global Threat Intelligence from over a billion sensors across multiple threat vectors around the world.

By examining cybercriminal activity related to ransomware and Cloud threats in the second quarter of 2021, the study found out that it has been a vibrant time for ransomware, which earned its place as a high-profile cybercrime agenda item for the US administration following the Colonial Pipeline attack.

“Ransomware has evolved far beyond its origins, and cybercriminals have become smarter and quicker to pivot their tactics alongside a whole host of new bad-actor schemes,” said Raj Samani, McAfee Enterprise Fellow and Chief Scientist. “Names such as REvil, Ryuk, Babuk, and DarkSide have permeated into public consciousness, linked to disruptions of critical services worldwide. And with good measure, since the cybercriminals behind these groups, as well as others, have been successful at extorting millions of dollars for their personal gain.”

According to the report, financial services were targeted in 50% of the top 10 Cloud incidents, including incidents in the United States, Singapore, China, France, Canada, and Australia, making it the most targeted sector. Cloud incidents targeting verticals in the US in Q2 2021 accounted for 34% of incidents recorded and while Europe had the largest increase in reported incidents with 52%,  the UK saw a 19% decrease.

“As cybercriminals adapt their methods to target the most sensitive data and services, the public sector must shore up their defences to mitigate further threats,” commented Adam Philpott, EMEA President at McAfee Enterprise. “By deploying a security strategy that blends both Zero Trust and SASE approaches, the sector can be more confident knowing that they have the necessary barriers in place to protect against sophisticated attacks. This has become particularly important as workers split their time between home and the office, with organisations needing to protect entry and data at every control point.”

Malware was the technique used most often in reported cybercrime, with spam showing the highest increase of reported incidents (250%) from Q1 to Q2 2021, followed by malicious script with 125%.

“Organisations should use this as an opportunity to figure out what has worked well and how they could tighten up their defences against future attacks. This could include the use of threat intelligence, which helps organisations to predict and prioritise potential threats before pre-emptively adapting their defensive countermeasures, ensuring optimised security and future business resilience,” Philpott added.

Key findings from the report include:

• Financial Services targeted most among reported Cloud incidents
• Government was the sector most targeted by ransomware
• DarkSide Q2 ransomware attacks extended beyond Oil, Gas and Chemical sector to Legal Services, Wholesale and Manufacturing
• In Q2 2021, 73% of ransomware detections in Q2 2021 were related to the REvil/Sodinokibi family