International. SonicWall announced the results of the 2019 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report, which provides deep insight into the intelligent threats identified through more than one million sensors around the world.
Analyzed by SonicWall's Capture Labs, in addition to a team of researchers specializing in cyber risks, additional information collected on threats throughout 2018 indicates a growth in the volume of cyberattacks, as well as new modalities and targeted tactics used by cybercriminals.
"Cybercriminals are not abandoning their tireless efforts to illegally obtain data, valuable information and intellectual property items," said Bill Conner, President and CEO of SonicWall. "We must remain adamant in this cyber arms race. Sharing vital threat information with our customers and partners will give them a tactical advantage. But it is also important to prepare those on the front lines of this battle, through intelligence, promoting global awareness of this risk landscape and continuing our work to foster an important dialogue on the cyber threats prevalent in our day."
Faced with the rise of vulnerabilities such as Spoiler, PortSmash, Foreshadow, Meltdown and Spectre, which can lead to lateral attacks, threat researchers at SonicWall have named processor vulnerabilities as a worrying upward security factor for both hardware and software technologies, which could lead to unprecedented branched expansion. SonicWall's patent-pending solution, Real-Time Deep Memory Inspection (RDTMI), identified 74,290 never-before-seen attacks so far in 2019. These variants are so recent, unique and complex that no signature was found upon discovery and included the detection of multiple side attacks.
As network defenses increase in sophistication, attacks from anonymity also advance, including now targeting non-standard ports to ensure the delivery of hidden malicious packets.
Based on a sample of more than 700 million malware attacks, SonicWall's research revealed that 19.2% of malware attacks targeted non-standard ports, an increase of 8.7% year-over-year.
"Security and privacy concerns are more significant than before. Industry and government must collaborate to develop safer environments, mitigate risk and consolidate both citizens' trust in government and consumer trust in businesses." Said Michael Chertoff, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of The Chertoff Group, and served as Secretary of Homeland Security for the U.S. Government. "This report provides a critical analysis of the evaluation of the techniques and methods used by cyber adversaries. As organizations increasingly rely on metrics to understand and forecast risk, this intelligence will help businesses and governments make decisions about their security investment."
PDF and Microsoft Office files have long been a recurring tool in the operation of organizations of any size and within all verticals. Cybercriminals are now leveraging these trusted elements to bypass traditional firewalls and single-engine sandbox solutions and inject malware effectively. SonicWall's multi-engine sandbox service discovered threats in more than 47,000 PDF files and approximately 51,000 Office documents during 2018. This presents an incremental dilemma, as most security controls cannot identify and mitigate malware hidden in these files.
The annual report is the result of research conducted on threats by SonicWall Capture Labs, where information from more than 200,000 malicious events and daily malware samples was analyzed to compare and document criminal activity online.
- 10.5 billion malware attacks were blocked in 2018, the highest record to date for SonicWall
- IoT attacks increased by 217.5% in 2018
- More than 2.8 million encrypted malware attacks were blocked in 2018, 27% more than in 2017
- Ransomware attacks grew 11% year-over-year
- Attacks on web applications increased 56%
- 3.9 billion intrusion attempts
To download the full report, you can visit www.sonicwall.com/ThreatReport
