Analysis of data logged by the Barracuda Managed XDR Security Operations Center shows ransomware threats have increased by four times over the last year.

In 2024, Barracuda Managed XDR logged 11 trillion IT events -- 350,000 per second. Just over a million were flagged as a potential risk and of these, 16,812 were identified as high-severity threats that required immediate defensive action. That’s a small percentage but highlights the need for powerful engines, analysis tools and human expertise to detect them.

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The increased connectivity of business systems and devices is making it harder for organizations to defend against ransomware attacks according to a new report.

The study from Illumio, with research conducted by the Ponemon Institute, shows organizations perceive the cloud and endpoints as being the most vulnerable, and 34 percent say a lack of visibility across hybrid environments makes it difficult to respond to ransomware attacks.

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Following a number of high-profile cybersecurity incidents in 2014 CISOs are reassessing their organization's readiness to manage a potential chaos of a full-scale cyber crisis.

New data from Hack The Box shows many CISOs -- based on a sample of 200 across the UK and US -- are concerned about their organization's ability to handle a cyber crisis. This is down to a number of reasons, the rising volume of cyber incidents (31 percent), lack of incident response planning (20 percent), and a lack of realistic, stress-tested crisis simulations (19 percent).

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The number of ransomware victims reached an all-time high with more than 1,600 in Q4 2024 alone according to the latest GuidePoint Research and Intelligence Team's (GRIT) annual Ransomware and Cyber Threat Report.

The number of attackers peaked too with a 40 percent year-on-year increase in active threat groups. GRIT identified more than 88 total active threat groups in 2024, including 40 newly observed adversaries.

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In an era when successful hacks are now an inevitability, too many organizations have a false sense of security when it comes to their data. Unfortunately, cyber criminals are ready and willing to take advantage of this complacency.

Gone are the days when CISOs could simply focus on building up frontline cyber defenses alone. Today’s cyber adversaries are using AI technologies like ChatGPT to augment and elevate the sophistication and effectiveness of their attacks on an industrial scale. Whether that’s automating how they scan for vulnerabilities or initiating highly adaptive attacks that can evade traditional perimeter security measures.

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