Comment: Microsoft Report Reveals over 600million daily attacks from nation-states and cybercriminals
October 2024 by Matt Aldridge, Principal Solutions Consultant at OpenText Security Solutions
Microsoft’s 2024 Digital Defense Report reveals a sharp rise in cyber-attacks, with over 600 million daily attacks from nation-states and cyber-criminals, often collaborating for intelligence operations. The commentary from Matt Aldridge, Principal Solutions Consultant at OpenText Cybersecurity, discussing the news.
“It is no secret that we have been navigating a volatile global cybersecurity landscape for some time and recent macroeconomic factors such as geopolitical tensions, struggling economies and the rise in sophistication of cyber crimes by cyber-criminals and nation-state actors have further exacerbated this. OpenText Cybersecurity’s recent 2024 Threat Hunter Perspective also revealed that the collaboration and coordination taking place between nation-states and cybercrime rings to target global supply chains and further geopolitical motives has become a signature trend in the threat landscape.
This is definitely a wake-up call for the entire world to get their cybersecurity in order before it’s too late. 600 million cyberattacks daily is a significant number and it indicates where businesses, public and government infrastructure alike need to focus their energies.
Ransomware and identity attacks including phishing, password spray attacks and credential stuffing attacks have also been the common themes found in Microsoft’s report. To overcome these challenges, businesses should prioritise improving their cybersecurity infrastructure with advanced threat detection mechanisms. They should securely back up their data, so systems can be quickly restored, but they must ensure the backups are protected with encryption to prevent data loss through this mechanism. Other best practices include implementing cybersecurity technology such as email filtering with on-click URL scanning, anti-virus protection with real-time anti-phishing capabilities, strong password policies and multi-factor authentication. Also, security awareness training should be implemented for staff from day one, ensuring they are vigilant in scrutinising the types of emails, messages and phone calls they receive.
It is incredibly important to adopt a multi-layered approach when it comes to a cyber defence strategy. Ultimately, the greater the diversity of processes, tools, and technologies an organisation has in place to protect and recover data plus detect and respond to breaches, the less likely an attack will succeed, and therefore disruption can be avoided.
The nation-state attackers are not slowing down and, as notable events like the U.S. presidential election get closer, every organisation in the global supply chain needs to be on high alert for advanced and multiple cyberattacks."