2020 was a record-breaking year for cyber-attacks and cybercrime. COVID-19 created a huge uptick in Internet usage and cybercriminals wasted no time abusing weak security practices to exploit and extort people and organizations alike.
According to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, cybercrime in 2020 increased by 300%.
Let’s look at the six most-targeted (and most vulnerable) industries.
Small Businesses
According to Verizon data from 2019, 43% of small businesses were targeted in cyber attacks due to their generally slower uptake on cybersecurity best practices with the biggest threat being phishing attacks.
Healthcare
From 2018 to 2020, more than 90% of all healthcare organizations have reported at least one security breach that manifested as either a denial of service attack, malicious code, or ransomware infections. Attacks on Healthcare in 2021 have more than doubled with almost one-third of those attacks being ransomware cases.
Government
In 2020, 79 ransomware attacks were made on U. S. government organizations which added up to $18.8 billion in recovery costs and downtime. On average, less than 38% of state and local employees have received ransomware prevention training.
Financial Institutions
Increased mobile banking usage has been a large contributing factor to more attacks via app-based trojans and fake banking apps. Learning to spot these malicious actors can be the difference between staying safe and losing it all.
Education
Microsoft reported in 2020 that nearly 62% of nearly 6 million malware cases came from the education sector with nearly 10% of those attacks resulting in ransomware infections.
Energy and Utility Companies
The May 2021 Colonial Pipeline outage was a result of ransomware. Malicious actors were able to take down the largest fuel pipeline in the U.S. leading to gas shortages across the east coast.
How can I protect my organization from cyber-attacks?
- Limit access to information – human error is the number one security threat.
- Perform a vulnerability assessment – find your security weaknesses before malicious actors do.
- Install and maintain firewalls – keep your network and users secure with better security permissions and policies.
- Secure your Wi-Fi networks – use strong passphrases and change them often.
- Train your employees – also, deploy policies to help your users know what to expect and how to react to threats.
- Hire IT professionals – every organization needs experts available to help secure their data and keep malicious actors at bay.
Are you ready to better protect your organization? Simply fill out the form below and an expert will be in touch to help keep you and your organization safe.
