Stefano Brusaferro, Sales & Director of HWG, takes stock of the situation for 2022. In fact, last year cyber attacks were unleashed everywhere, including Italy.
This was revealed by Clusit, the Italian Association for Computer Security in its latest report. The researchers of the Association have underlined how the data collected indicates only the events of which we know. The tip of a much larger iceberg, given the overall tendency of victims to keep damaging events confidential. This even in spite of the issuing of regulations designed to protect companies and citizens, such as the GDPR Regulation, the NIS Directive and the future NIS2 and others.
The general data
The Report draws an overview of the most significant security incidents that occurred in the world last year and compares them with data from the previous 4 years. Compared to 2021, global growth is 21%. Specifically in Italy there is a worrying situation +169%. Again at a global level, there were 2489 serious accidents), for a monthly average of 207 accidents, against 171 in the previous year. The peak of the year was in March, with 238 attacks.
Cyber attacks unleashed everywhere, even in Italy
It was not only the quantity of attacks that grew, but also the quality. High or critical impact levels accounted for 80% of cases, both globally and nationally. With heavy repercussions on the business and reputation of the affected subjects.
The objectives
The so-called purpose of “cybercrime”, aimed at an economic objective, represents the great majority among the criminal incidents. According to Clusit there are over 2,000 globally, or 82% of the total (+15%). The figure is much more significant for Italy: 93%, i.e. +150% compared to 2021. Italy is at the forefront of what cyber criminals consider as a territory for illicit gains, which they pursue with a growing diffusion of attacks ransomware. Showing a steady growth trend over the past five years.
In 2022 cyber attacks unleashed
On a global scale, researchers note a 110% growth in Information Warfare activity and 320% in Hacktivism, mainly due to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Nationally, it emerges that the most attacked sector in 2022 was that governmental (20% of attacks), followed by manufacturing (19%). The attacks in Italy appear to be closely related to the degree of technological maturity in the specific areas. For example, the professional and scientific-technical services sectors report a 233.3% increase in serious accidents. IT sector organizations by 100%) and the government-military sector by 65.2%.
Attack techniques
In this context, malware reigns all over the world, which represents the technique with which 37% of global attacks are launched. This is followed by vulnerabilities, phishing and social engineering (12%), such as DDoS attacks (4%, but with a +258% compared to 2021) and multiple techniques.
Unleashed cyber attacks and malware prevails over all
Malware also prevails in Italy (53% of the total), with a serious or very serious impact in 95% of cases. On the other hand, the impact of attacks is less phishing e you social engineering, equal to 8%. While the percentage of incidents based on known vulnerabilities, equal to 6%, remains worrying. However lower than the global figure, they denote the ineffectiveness of vulnerability management processes and security updates in companies and organizations. An alarming figure, symptomatic of how indispensable it is to work on the dissemination of culture and awareness of cybersecurity.