In today’s interconnected digital landscape, the persistent and sophisticated nature of cyber threats has become a critical concern for individuals, businesses, and governments alike.
Obrela’s annual Digital Universe report provides an in-depth exploration of the cybersecurity landscape, focusing on Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups, vulnerabilities, attacks, and the countermeasures employed to safeguard against these evolving challenges.
As technology advances, so do the tactics employed by malicious actors seeking to exploit vulnerabilities for various motives, including espionage, financial gain, or geopolitical advantage. APT groups, originating from diverse global regions, have emerged as formidable adversaries, demonstrating adaptability, innovation, and an alarming level of persistence.
During 2023, the “funnel” view of real-time visibility data for devices and endpoints in scope produced the following observations:
- 14.5 PBs of log size were collected and ingested to become useful information, from approximately 500K devices or endpoints.
- Of the previously ingested logs, the correlated ones resulted in 1.6M triaged alerts of which 32K were detected as incident cases..
Comparing findings with last year, Ransomware Attacks remain a dominant threat, with attackers increasingly targeting Critical Infrastructure, in the Financial Sector, Healthcare and Educational Institutions. Beyond encrypting victims’ data, attackers are leveraging double extortion tactics by threatening to release stolen data publicly unless additional payment is made. Meanwhile, Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) platforms continue to lower the barrier for entry, enabling less technically skilled criminals to launch attacks.
Obrela’s proprietary data reveals that the banking and finance sectors face the most ‘reconnaissance’ attacks (37% increase compared to the same time last year) followed by education (13%).
Top alert trends in 2023 include “Suspicious Internal Activity”, “Malware”, “Security Risk/ Policy Violations”.
As we move further into 2024, staying informed about the latest threats and continuously adapting cybersecurity strategies is evermore essential for protecting against the dynamic and sophisticated attack landscape.
Download the report and learn more about the attack surface landscape, the most active persistent threats (APTs), the top exploited vulnerabilities, notable attacks and the new incident cases in 2023
