In the new annual Microsoft The "Digital Defense" report warns of the worrying growth of cyber attacks in the world. Users of Microsoft products face about 600 million such attacks per day, which is strongly associated with geopolitical conflicts.
Following the trends from July 2023 to July of this year, Microsoft emphasized in the report that cyberattacks originate from criminals, but also state actors, and that in order to effectively combat this growing problem, it is urgent to strengthen digital defenses at all levels and encourage a permanent commitment to the principles of cyber security .
It was stated that during the observed period, 2,75 times more ransomware attacks were recorded compared to the previous period, but also that the percentage of organizations that ended up being blackmailed decreased by more than three times in the past two years.
Attackers still count on predictable human behavior, such as choosing easy-to-remember passwords and using them on multiple websites, so they easily become victims of phishing attacks, and password attacks are the most common and account for 99 percent of all user identity attacks.
Cyber-assisted financial fraud is also on the rise globally, with new trends in payment fraud and misuse of legitimate services for phishing and malicious activities.
It was pointed out that an alarming form of fraud – techscam, deceives users by presenting legitimate services or providing fake technical support and publishing advertisements.
The number of techscam scams increased by 400 percent between 2021 and 2023, which far exceeds the increase of 180 percent in malware attacks and 30 percent in phishing.
Geopolitical conflicts driving cyber attacks
DDoS attacks also continue, although Microsoft says that in the second half of this year they mitigated 1,25 million of these attacks, which is a fourfold increase compared to last year.
The Microsoft team now monitors more than 1500 unique threat groups, including more than 600 government and 300 criminal threats and 200 public opinion groups, as well as hundreds of others.
"Geopolitical conflicts are driving cyber campaigns and attacks, and states are becoming increasingly aggressive in cyberspace, with levels of technical sophistication reflecting increased investment in resources and training." Russian, Iranian and Chinese actors have stepped up cyber operations around currently active conflicts, so Russian attacks primarily targeted Ukraine and NATO countries, and Chinese Taiwan and Southeast Asia. The war between Israel and Hamas has also intensified Iranian cyber activities against Israel, the US and the Gulf countries, and Russia and Iran have also used the war and the US election to spread divisive propaganda," Microsoft pointed out.
It also warns that the generic artificial intelligence that all cybercriminals are experimenting with is being misused, while on the other hand, artificial intelligence tools are also helping cybersecurity teams to respond to threats faster by automating tasks such as alert analysis.
"Mitigating cyber threats requires strong cooperation between the public and private sectors." Governments must introduce significant penalties for malicious activity to prevent attacks. "The existing international standards in cyberspace are not effective, which results in the continuation of aggressive activities supported by states," said Microsoft.
