Malware, botnets and exploits all soar in second quarter of 2022

In the second quarter of this year malware events increased over 25 percent, botnets doubled and exploit activity grew by nearly 150 percent, according to a new report.

The report from managed security services provider Nuspire, based on threat intelligence analyzed from Nuspire's trillion traffic logs from client sites and associated with thousands of devices from around the world, shows a substantial increase in botnet activity near the end of Q2, attributed to Torpig Mebroot botnet, a banking trojan designed to scrape and collect credit card and payment information from infected devices.

"We witnessed a stunning escalation in threat activity in Q2, and while it's not a surprise given increased attack opportunities like remote work, it's still a worrying development and one we cannot ignore," says JR Cunningham, chief security officer at Nuspire. "Attackers have always looked for the easiest way to profit from their targets, and because basic attacks like phishing continue to work, it's clear organizations need to shore up their fundamental security practices like patching and user awareness training. It's also critical organizations conduct regular reviews of their security programs to safeguard against a nonstop flow of potentially serious disruptive threats."

Manufacturing is the world's most attacked industry sector, the data shows the LockBit ransomware gang and Dynamite Panda (APT18) as two of the biggest threats to the industry in the second quarter.

On a more positive note VBA agent activity has significantly decreased due to Microsoft’s decision to block them by default.

"Organizations continue to struggle balancing the need to protect against an onslaught of threats with the concurrent need for employees to properly manage digital sovereignty requirements," says Craig Robinson, research vice president for security services at IDC. "This is why we’re seeing the market becoming more receptive to increasing and enhancing internal security training. This combined with tools like multi-factor authentication and endpoint detection, as well as services like MDR, can make all the difference in an organization's security posture."

You can register for a webinar to be held at 2pm ET today to discuss the findings.

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