India Sees 409% Jump In Cryptojacking Attacks While Five Cyber Security Tactics Ruling the Global Business: Report Shockingly, India is experiencing the highest number of cryptojacking attacks, while it has decreased by 60 per cent globally

India is making significant efforts towards becoming an advanced technological country. However, the increasing use of technology is also leading to notable cybersecurity threats. Malware attacks have risen by 11 per cent, ransomware attacks have increased by 22 per cent, and Internet of Things (IoT) attacks have surged to 1,680,787 in 2024 from 1,057,320 in 2023, marking a 59 per cent jump.

These new cybersecurity developments are becoming a major concern for the business world, according to the 'Mid-Year Cyber Threat Report' published by SonicWall. Shockingly, India is experiencing the highest number of cryptojacking attacks, with a 409 per cent increase, while cryptojacking has decreased by 60 per cent globally.

Latest Cybersecurity Trends Around the Globe

Supply Chain Attacks

Supply chain attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, exploiting the interconnectedness of modern enterprises and targeting vulnerabilities in third-party software and services to compromise broader networks. The first half of 2024 reported several sophisticated attacks, including the JetBrains TeamCity authentication bypass. According to a previous report, by the end of 2023, three out of the top five companies were attacked by supply chain breaches, affecting more than 50 per cent of customers due to vulnerabilities such as Log4j or Log4Shell, and Heartbleed. Additionally, the report noted that, on average, it took organizations 55 days to patch even 50 per cent of critical vulnerabilities.

Business Email Compromise (BEC)

In recent years, Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks have often been linked to ransomware incidents. BEC attacks primarily rely on social engineering tactics, with 70 per cent of reported incidents involving some type of social engineering—manipulating individuals into transferring funds or sensitive credentials. According to the report, this trend is expected to increase in the future. Misconfigurations in Microsoft Office 365 (O365), particularly at the Active Directory level, have also contributed to the rise in BEC attacks.

Remote Code Execution (RCE)

According to the data, Microsoft patched more than 900 vulnerabilities in 2023, with Remote Code Execution (RCE) accounting for 36 per cent of these. However, RCE vulnerabilities were only exploited 5 per cent of the time, while Elevation of Privilege vulnerabilities were leveraged 52 per cent of the time throughout 2023. As of mid-2024, 434 Microsoft vulnerabilities have been patched, matching the record set in 2023. While 40 per cent of these vulnerabilities were classified as RCE, 86 per cent of exploited Microsoft vulnerabilities were Security Feature Bypass or Elevation of Privilege vulnerabilities.

Remote Access Trojans (RATs)

Remote Access Trojans (RATs) imitate themselves as legitimate applications (Apps) to obtain permissions and then connect to command-and-control servers to steal sensitive information and bypass multi-factor authentication (MFA). Industries have experienced several sophisticated RAT attacks, such as Anubis, AhMyth, and Cerberus, all of which have been widely used by malicious actors this year and have evolved to bypass MFA.

PowerShell

PowerShell's user-friendly features make it an attractive tool for users, but these same features also make it a favorite tool for malicious actors. According to the report, 90 per cent of prevalent malware families (such as AgentTesla, AsyncRAT, GuLoader, DBatLoader, and LokiBot) are using PowerShell, with 73 per cent using it to download additional malware, evade detection, and carry out other malicious activities.

Additionally, the report mentioned that approximately 12.6 per cent of a company's annual revenues are at risk of cyberattacks. "Organizations today confront a dynamic threat landscape where threat actors continually innovate to outpace enterprise defenses," noted SonicWall Vice President of APJ Sales, Debasish Mukherjee.