Increasing Data breaches getting nuisance

Data breaches remain a widespread nuisance affecting millions of users. In fact, the number of data breaches reported each year has been steadily increasing. In 2022, there were over 1,800 data breaches reported, affecting over 220 million people.

Data breaches can happen to any organization, regardless of size or industry. However, some industries, such as technology, healthcare, and finance, are more frequently targeted by hackers.

Data breaches can have a significant impact on affected users. Hackers can use stolen data to commit identity theft, financial fraud, and other crimes. They can also use the data to target users with phishing attacks and other scams.

Data breaches remain a widespread nuisance affecting millions of users. In August, for example, a data breach at Discord.io exposed the information of 760,000 members, including hashed passwords. This data has already been made available for purchase on an underground forum. The breached data is the asset for cybercriminals, and such information is often used to personalize future social engineering email campaigns.

The most common causes behind data breaches are double-extortion ransomware, SQL injections and information-stealing Trojans. One of the more common infostealers, Raccoon Stealer, announced a new version (2.3.0) in August. This new version is stealthier and attempts to prevent researchers from finding their online dashboard, while it steals credentials from 60 different applications. Raccoon Stealer is distributed under the malware-as-a-service (MaaS) model and is currently being sold for $200 per month.

With so many avenues available for cybercriminals to attack data, the importance of robust data protection is paramount. A report states, Ransomware detections in August increased 3% compared to July 2023. The day with the most ransomware detections was August 9, when 438 encryption attempts were blocked.

The fact is, the actual number of attempted ransomware attacks will be higher than the number of attacks that are successful in bypassing all layers of protection and encrypting files. This is because email filters and static antivirus detection processes are not always able to block all malicious emails and malware.

Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, President & CEO, VARINDIA