Cyberattacks and online data breaches have increased by an unprecedented rate this year around the world as more individuals and businesses have shifted to working online.
According to a new study conducted by cloud computing firm Iomart, the number of large-scale digital attacks globally increased by over 273 percent in the first three months of 2020 alone. That number is expected to increase even further in the coming quarters as more businesses go online.
As digital transactions and e-commerce continue to increase, the number of attempts to take advantage of software and hardware weaknesses is expected to continue. A lot of companies are particularly vulnerable to attacks, given that most had to rush to get their operations online following the spread of the pandemic. The transition, which would have typically taken years, was significantly accelerated for most, resulting in gaping security flaws.
Hacking groups and individuals knowledgeable in computers and networks can take advantage of these flaws. With the coronavirus pandemic causing so much change and upheaval in various industries, cybercriminals can capitalize on the uncertainty to run away with huge amounts of money.
Experts have noted that most of the attacks are targeting both large and small companies that have not paid too much attention or skimped out their digitalization process. The most common type of attacks being used on these companies are hacks called Ransomware. Cybercriminals that use ransomware attacks often take over a network and encrypt their files. The perpetrators then demand that a certain amount be paid by the victim in order to restore access.
According to VMware, Ransomware attacks had spiked by more than 90 percent this year, with criminals targets all types of networks that have clear vulnerabilities. In March, Israeli Fintech company Sapiens was the victim of an attack. The company was forced to pay $250,000 worth of Bitcoins to hackers to avoid its entire network from being shutdown.
In June, the city of Florence, Alabama, was forced to pay $300,000 in Bitcoins after hackers had taken over its computer network. During the same month, Japanese automaker Honda also became a victim of a massive ransomware attack, which affected its production systems. The attack led to the shutdown of several of the company's manufacturing facilities worldwide.
Iomart estimates that major cyberattacks can cost a large company millions of dollars in losses, mostly from an average decline of 7.27 percent of its publicly-traded stocks once reports emerge of a breach. For smaller companies, a large-scale attack could be catastrophic.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and its Internet Crime Complaint Center have corroborated the data, saying that it has received a growing number of cyberattack complaints. As of June, the agency stated that it had received around 12,377 Coronavirus-related scam complaints and hundreds of thousands of non-coronavirus related attack complaints.
