How cybercrime has adapted to the pandemic

A new report from BlackBerry shows that as our digital habits have changed over the past year cybercriminals have become increasingly successful at finding and targeting vulnerable organizations.

The greater adoption of digital offerings has exposed companies to inadequate protections for employees and customers amongst an ever-growing and under-secured attack surface.

There has also been a merging of cyber and physical threats, with criminals increasingly targeting healthcare organizations or using the pandemic to trick already vulnerable targets.

"The cybersecurity industry becomes more complex each passing year as new technologies, devices and innovations emerge -- and at no time was that truer than in 2020, which witnessed everything from a global pandemic to the US election," says Eric Milam, vice president of research and intelligence at BlackBerry. "As the world becomes more interconnected and as new dimensions to cybercrime continue to rise, preparation will become a key factor in successful threat prevention in 2021."

The report also highlights the growth of the crimeware-as-a-service business model as well as the increasing sophistication and collaboration of hacker-for-hire groups. Mercenary threat groups have experienced a year of growth as unscrupulous actors and organizations have sought to outsource their cyber attacks.

Ransomware-as-a-service offerings have grown in popularity too, replacing traditional off-the-shelf ransomware with ready-made exploit kits, malspam campaigns and threat emulation software. Newer APT groups like CostaRicto have targeted disparate victims worldwide with their customized backdoors and tooling.

"As both public and private organizations work to meet cyber espionage groups at ground zero, the foundation for robust security practices remains unchanged," adds Milam. "From round-the-clock monitoring to AI-driven security tools and insider threat detection, the same time-tested security fundamentals -- and an understanding of how current events impact an organization's attack surface -- can make the difference between a data breach and a successful cyber defense."

You can get the full 2021 BlackBerry Threat Report from the company's site.

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