Cyber ​​attacks increase globally in Q1 2024, with India among most attacked countries: report

According to a recent report by Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. There was a staggering 28% increase in cyberattacks worldwide in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous quarter. The report highlights that an organization in India faced an average of 2,807 attacks per week in the first quarter of 2024, a 33% increase year-on-year, making it one of the most attacked countries globally.

The report shows that the education/research, government/military and healthcare sectors continued to be the most attacked sectors in the first quarter of 2024. However, the hardware vendor industry saw a significant 37% year-over-year increase in cyberattacks, indicating a shift in targeting preference of cybercriminals.

Regionally, Africa saw a 20% increase in attacks per organization, while Latin America saw a 20% decrease. North America was the region most affected by ransomware attacks, accounting for 59% of the nearly 1,000 published attacks, followed by Europe (24%) and Asia Pacific (12%). Europe saw the largest increase in reported ransomware attacks, with a significant increase of 64% compared to the first quarter of 2023.

The most common malware in India includes FakeUpdates, a botnet and downloaders, remote access trojans (RATs), botnets and information stealers. Over half of malicious files in India were distributed over the Internet in the last 30 days, with remote code execution being the most common type of vulnerability exploitation, affecting 64% of organizations in the country.

To combat these escalating threats, Check Point experts recommend organizations adopt a diverse approach to cybersecurity, including robust data backups, regular cyber awareness training, timely security patches, strong user authentication, and advanced anti-ransomware solutions.