Cyber Security Awareness Month: 40% Increase in Weekly Cyber Attacks on Organizations Worldwide in 2021

As October Cybersecurity Awareness month embarks, Check Point Research shares new data on current cybersecurity threats by volume, industry and region. Cyberattacks on organizations worldwide surged 40% in 2021, compared to last year. September 2021 breaks records for a number of weekly cyberattacks, compared to all other months since January 2020.

• 1 out of every 61 organizations worldwide is impacted by ransomware every week
• Education/Research is the #1 most targeted industry globally, marking a 60% increase in cyberattacks from 2020
• In India, 18% increase in weekly cyberattacks in 2021, compared to 2020 (1741 cyberattacks a week on average)

Check Point Research (CPR) shares new data on current cybersecurity threats around the world, as October Cybersecurity Awareness month commences. Based* on organizations it tracks, CPR reports:

Global Statistics by Volume

• 1 out of every 61 organizations worldwide every week is impacted by ransomware
• 40% increase in average weekly cyberattacks on organizations in 2021 compared to 2020
• September 2021 saw the most amount of cyberattacks per week ( avg. 870 attacks), compared to all other months since January 2020, more than double the number of attacks weekly when compared to the lowest point in March 2020

Global Statistics by Industry

Ranking of Industry Cyberattacks:

1)      Education/Research, with an average of 1,468 attacks per organization each week, a 60% increase from 2020

2)      Government/Military, with an average of 1,082 attacks per organization each week, a 40% increase from 2020

3)      Healthcare, with an average of 752 cyberattacks per organization each week, a 55% increase from 202

Ranking of Industry Ransomware Attacks:

1)      ISP/MSP sector, with an average weekly number of impacted organizations in this sector in 2021 is 1 out of 36, a 32% increase from 2020

2)      Healthcare, with 1 out of 44 organizations having been impacted, a 39% increase

3)      Software vendors, with 1 out of 52 organizations, a 21% increase

Cyberattacks by Region

The most attacked regions, in order were:

1. Africa: average of 1,615 weekly attacks per organization, a 15% increase from 2020
2. APAC: average of 1,299 weekly attacks per organization, a 20% increase from 2020
3. Latin America: average of 1,117 attacks weekly a 37% increase from 2020
4. Europe: average of 665 attacks weekly, a 65% increase from 2020
5. North America:  average of 497 attacks weekly, a 57% increase

Additional data by region:

• Europe and North America experienced the most dramatic rises in cyber-attacks compared to 2020, marking 65% and 57% increases respectively
• APAC sees the highest volume of attack attempts by ransomware, with 1 out of 34  organizations being impacted every week in 2021

Quote: Omer Dembinsky, Data Research Group Manager, Threat Intelligence and Research Organization at Check Point Software Technologies.

“October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month and a time for everyone to be reminded about the role they play in ensuring cybersecurity, both locally and across the world. Since the outbreak of the pandemic globally, cybercriminals have sprung into action to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them. With the continued rise in cyberattacks, Check Point Software recommends that organizations adopt a preventive approach to cybersecurity, rather than work on remediation after the fact when damage has been inflicted.”

Security Tips for Organizations Everywhere

• Educate. Educate. Educate. User education is one of the most important defences an organization can deploy.
• Reduce attack surface. Take full control of peripherals, applications, network traffic, and data.
• Think prevention, first. Legacy solutions that rely upon incident detection and response miss novel attacks and respond too late to be able to minimize the damage of a cyberattack campaign.
• Be phishing-aware. Be wary of clicking on links that look in any way suspicious and only download content from reliable sources that can be verified.
• Stay up-to-date. Keeping computers up-to-date and applying security patches, especially those labelled as critical, can help limit an organization’s vulnerability to sophisticated cyber-attacks.