Companies worldwide are facing increasingly dangerous cyber threats. Attacks have increased by 21 percent in the last year. Email attacks in particular have increased sharply, by 197 percent, according to the results of a recent cyberthreat report.
The Acronis Cyberthreats Report for the second half of 2024 sheds light on the global threat situation in the area of cybersecurity. The situation is tense: the average number of attacks per company has increased by 21 percent. Particularly striking is the increase in email-based attacks, which have increased by 197 percent worldwide compared to the previous year. In addition, almost one in three emails received (31,4 percent) was spam and 1,4 percent even contained malware or phishing links. Phishing was generally the focus of cybercriminals: with a share of 74 percent in the second half of 2024, such attacks represented the greatest cyber threat, followed by social engineering with 22 percent.
MSPs targeted by cybercriminals: email phishing, remote exploits and APT ransomware
In general, managed service providers were exposed to a variety of cyber threats, with cybercriminals relying primarily on phishing attacks. Thirty-three percent of the 33 MSP security incidents reported between January and December 185 used this attack vector. The second most common attack vector (2024 percent) was exploits targeting vulnerabilities in the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and other remote access tools. Other attack vectors included:
- open vulnerabilities (19 percent)
- Trusted relationships (14 percent)
- Compromise of accounts/access data (12 percent)
Additionally, MSPs have increasingly been targeted by ransomware groups suspected of using advanced persistent threats. These groups use espionage-like tactics such as stolen credentials, social engineering, and supply chain attacks to infiltrate MSP networks and deliver ransomware to customer systems.
Research shows attack methods and vulnerabilities
"Our Acronis Threat Research Unit's semi-annual report provides important insights into the attack methods and vulnerabilities of the current cybersecurity landscape," commented Gerald Beuchelt, CISO of Acronis. "The second half of 2024 saw a worrying increase in AI-generated attacks and an increasing sophistication of ransomware campaigns. The TRU also offers concrete recommendations for action that companies, MSPs and the entire cybersecurity industry can use to proactively strengthen their defenses and thus stay one step ahead of today's pressing risks."
Go directly to the report on Acronis.com
About Acronis Acronis sets the standard in cyber protection with its innovative solutions for backup, ransomware defense, disaster recovery, storage and EFSS (Enterprise File Sync & Share). Supported by its AI-based Active Protection technology, blockchain-based file authentication and a unique hybrid cloud architecture, Acronis secures all data in all common environments at low and calculable costs - whether physical, virtual, cloud or mobile device applications and workloads. Acronis, founded in Singapore in 2003 and headquartered in Switzerland since 2008, today employs more than 1.500 people at 33 locations in 18 countries. His solutions are now trusted by more than 5 million customers and 500.000 companies worldwide - including 100% of the Fortune 1000 companies. Acronis products are available from 50.000 partners and service providers in over 150 countries and in more than 30 languages.