It goes without saying that, starting from the expansion of Covid - and remote working, in particular - cybercrime cases have increased dramatically. However, the major issue is not the increase in these cases, but rather the fact that the attacks are becoming increasingly innovative every day, and it's challenging to keep up with these changes.
Logically, one might think that reducing internet usage could be a solution, but the pandemic and other events have made the internet a necessity for almost every activity. Therefore, it wouldn't be a rational solution. The monetization of cybercrimes is so high that researchers expect nothing but a constant increase in cases and costs caused by these crimes.
Currently, ransomware is the most feared attack since the perpetrators demand very high ransoms. These attacks are so lucrative that a study a few years ago recorded an increase in cases of over 100%. However, in addition to the pandemic, there are many other factors that have led to such an increase, including the situation in Ukraine, the increased use of the cloud, and so on.
In line with these developments in the surrounding environment, DDoS attacks, phishing attacks, and countless other methods of entering someone's computer system with malicious intent have also increased. The range of potential targets has expanded as well.
Unfortunately, as mentioned, it's not possible to completely eliminate these attacks. However, there are various ways to slow them down or make them occur much more sporadically, such as implementing multi-factor authentication, regularly updating software, and educating your staff, for example.
As mentioned, the pandemic and other factors contributing to the increase in attacks were unforeseen or unpredictable. However, if a way is found to collaborate internationally and establish baseline security practices that every company would implement on its operational grounds, even these technological challenges can be addressed.
Among the most recent trends and threats are ransomware – malware that infects devices and denies access until a ransom is paid, IoT or "internet of things" – technology that connects most devices to the internet, cloud computing – where most data is stored or even worked on directly on the platform, including Google, and the introduction of the cloud as a working surface, DDoS attacks have also significantly increased, and so on.
To combat these trends, there has been a lot of talk about multi-factor authentication lately, as well as antivirus software and employee awareness training. Another crucial aspect is knowing what to do when and if you encounter a cyberattack, in order to avoid financial and reputational damage.