Ransomware-as-a-Service and personalized spear phishing will primarily affect the manufacturing industry and SMBs. Zix Corporation, provider of cloud solutions, names the top cybercrime trends of 2022.
Zix Corporation, a leading provider of cloud solutions for email security, productivity and compliance, draws attention to the top three cybercrime trends of 2022. Cyber attacks will increase in terms of methods and attackers - the focus is on ransomware-as-a-service and personalized phishing. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and especially the manufacturing sector will be particularly affected.
Trend: Ransomware-as-a-Service
Under Covid-19, cybercriminals have quickly adapted to the pandemic conditions: they skillfully use the resulting uncertainty for their own purposes. The risk potential of cyber attacks is therefore still at a high level and will intensify even more in 2022. The greatest possible security with regard to IT infrastructures and company networks is essential. Zix expects the following three trends in the development of cybercrime in 2022:
Attention manufacturers: Cyber attacks will increase
Unprotected infrastructures in the manufacturing industry have always been a popular target for cyber attacks. With continued delivery bottlenecks well into 2022, attackers will seize every opportunity. This will make the manufacturing and distribution industry the main target for cybercriminals over the next year.
Targeting SMBs: Ransomware-as-a-Service
The range of ransomware-as-a-service will also continue to grow. The malware, which can be used for a fee, has proven to be an extremely efficient way for cyber criminals to maximize profits. In its report on the situation of IT security in Germany in 2021, the Federal Office for Information Security weighs small and medium-sized companies in particular at risk. Ransomware groups will increasingly target SMBs to attract less attention than larger, more conspicuous targets.
Warning: personalized phishing
Spear phishing attacks are not going away. On the contrary: Personalized phishing, in which cybercriminals personalize emails to adapt them to small groups of people and make them appear more authentic, will continue to increase in 2022. Businesses can arm themselves by updating and keeping their security technologies and processes current.
Zix Threat Map on website: real-time visualization of global threat intelligence (Image: Zix).
More cyber criminal alliances
The evolution of malware-as-a-service and phishing-as-a-service shows that cybercriminals are joining forces to maximize success. The use of these tactics has now become a lucrative business model that is offered as a service on the dark web and is also used by inexperienced people. Later, the malware manufacturer and the customer split the ransom money extorted from them. Cyber criminals who are actually in competition become partners with close business relationships that ensure continued success.
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About Zix
Zix Corporation (Zix) is a leader in email security, productivity and compliance. Zix is trusted by important healthcare, financial and government institutions around the world. The company offers easy-to-use solutions for email encryption and data loss prevention, advanced threat protection, and unified information archiving. With a focus on protecting internal corporate communications, Zix enables its customers to better protect their data and meet compliance requirements. Zix is publicly traded on the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol ZIXI.