iscover
Share this article on:
Powered by
MOMENTUM
MEDIA
Threat intelligence firm FalconFeeds has released a cyber security report card for 2024, and it makes for a sober reading.
In 2024, hackers of varying stripes targeted an Australian organisation on average more than once every day of the year.
According to statistics released today by threat intelligence firm FalconFeeds, exactly 500 cyber incidents occurred in Australia last year, with ransomware and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks being the most prevalent.
The rest of the world
However, our neighbours in the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) region faced 2,829 incidents, mostly focused on the education and government sectors, while not that further afield in India, FalconFeeds observed 3,936 cyber incidents. Education, IT, and government were most impacted, and the country saw an uptake in activity during its general election, held between April and June 2024.
There were 3,583 incidents recorded in the Middle East, with Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia bearing the brunt of attacks, while even the Caribbean racked up 66 cyber incidents, with a particular surge in October.
That same month saw a mammoth leap in incidents recorded in the United States, too. FalconFeeds tracked 5,978 cyber incidents in the US, with an 18.8 per cent rise in attacks between September and October. Ransomware attacks and data breaches were the main culprits, with the manufacturing, technology, and healthcare sectors being the most targeted.
Europe, thanks to the war in Ukraine, easily saw the most cyber incidents of 2024. There were 10,429 incidents tracked in the region last year, with ransomware and DDoS attacks leading the charge, and with Ukraine and the United Kingdom being the most affected.
Ransomware runs rampant
Ransomware was easily the most prevalent threat faced by organisations around the world, with groups such RansomHub, PLAY, and Akira staking a claim as operators to watch out for. And yet, despite the activity of law enforcement agencies, and being quiet most of the year, the LockBit operation still dominated the space.
That said, 2024 also saw the newcomers debut as credible threats. Sarcoma, Arcus Media, Lynx, BlackLock, and Funksec all made quite an impact in the last 12 months, and will no doubt remain cyber criminals to watch as we come into 2025.
In terms of targets, the most targeted sectors were IT services, government, manufacturing, education, and healthcare.
An evolving threat landscape
The year 2024 saw a series of elections across the globe, with about 2 billion people eligible to vote in national elections in more than 70 nations. This led to spikes in cyber activity with the aim of election interference in many countries.
Global conflict continued to drive cyber activity driven by hacktivist groups, while other threat actors took advantage of digital transformation efforts that have broadened the attack surface across many organisations.
Popular hacking communities, such as BreachForums and Exploit Forum, also saw a rise in activity, particularly in the sale of access to organisations via data brokers and increased data trading.
“Cyber threats are intensifying with sophisticated actors and diverse attack vectors,” FalconFeeds said.
“Insights from the USA and other regions underscore the urgency for proactive, collaborative, and adaptive cyber security measures to mitigate risks in 2025.”
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
Be the first to hear the latest developments in the cyber industry.
