cyber
TRENDS which was 15 % higher than last year . Hackers like to target hospitals because they perceive them as short on cybersecurity resources with smaller hospitals particularly vulnerable , as they are underfunded and understaffed to handle a sophisticated cyberattack .
Ranking third out of all sectors for the most cyberattacks globally , healthcare is so lucrative to hackers because they aim to retrieve health insurance information , medical records numbers and , sometimes , even social security numbers .
Furthermore , the hardware vendor industry experienced the largest increase in attacks , with a dramatic rise of 183 %. This surge underscores the expanding target range of cybercriminals as they seek to exploit vulnerabilities across various sectors .
Ram Narayanan , Country Manager at Check Point Software Technologies , Middle East
Ransomware attacks per industry surge highlights the growing sophistication and persistence of threat actors , driven by multiple converging cyberthreat trends .
For instance , the education and research industry has consistently been a prime target for cybercriminals due to its wealth of sensitive information and often inadequate cybersecurity measures made further complex by multiple groups of online users within and outside of the network expanding the attack vector surface . In fact , the education / research sector was the number one most attacked industry globally , seeing a 53 % increase in Q2 2024 compared to Q2 2023 , with an average of 3,341 attacks per organisation every week .
Government / military was the second most attacked sector with 2,084 attacks per week , reflecting the high stakes involved in state-level cyber-espionage and disruption .
Looking back at cyberattacks for the healthcare sector in Q2 , healthcare organisations saw an average of 1,999 weekly attacks per organisation ,
In Q2 2024 , ransomware attacks that involved public extortion were reported showing a 13 % year-over-year increase , totaling approximately 1,200 incidents . In terms of industry impact , the manufacturing sector was the most affected , representing 29 % of publicly extorted ransomware attacks ’ victims globally , with a significant 56 % yearover-year increase . The healthcare sector followed , accounting for 11 % of the attacks and experiencing a 27 % increase .
The retail / wholesale industry saw 9 % of the attacks , with a notable 34 % decrease from the previous year . Notably , the communications and utilities sectors experienced dramatic rises in ransomware incidents , with increases of 177 % and 186 %, respectively .
Industry
Percent out of Published Ransomware Attacks
(*) This data draws from ransomware ‘ shame sites ’ operated by double-extortion ransomware groups , which publicly disclose victim information . While these sources have inherent biases , they provide valuable insights into the ransomware landscape .
YoY Change in Number of Published Attacks
Manufacturing 29 % + 56 % Healthcare 11 % + 27 % Retail / Wholesale 9 % – 34 % Finance / Banking 7 % – 8 % Education / Research 6 % – 3 % Software vendor 6 % – 57 % Government / Military 6 % + 31 % Transportation 6 % + 40 % Insurance / Legal 5 % – 25 % Communications 5 % + 177 % Leisure / Hospitality 3 % + 0 % Consultant 2 % – 76 % Utilities 2 % + 186 % Energy 1 % – 25 %
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