The manufacturing sector suffered the most cyber attacks in 2021.

For the first time in five years, the number of cyber incidents in that sector exceeded the number in the financial and insurance sectors, IBM states in the report X-Force Threat Intelligence index. Threat actors understand the critical role manufacturing plays in global supply chains and are seeking to disrupt these organizations. Companies in the industry are popular targets because they are vulnerable to the failure of systems, which immediately creates problems in the production and supply chain. This makes demanding ransomware often successful.

IBM analyzed data from endpoints, network and detection devices. Together with data on incident response and, for example, phishing kits, it concludes that in 2021 almost a quarter of attacks were directed at the industrial sector.

The security arm of the ict giant saw a 33 percent increase in cyber attacks last year. 47percent of those cyberattacks were able to occur because organizations did not have their patch management in order. Phishing is generally the most common cause of cyber attacks. 44 percent of ransomware attacks were able to be carried out successfully in this way. Security professionals also saw ransomware targeting Linux increasing by 146 percent by 2021.

Incident response plan

IBM concludes that the average lifespan of ransomware groups is seventeen months. In doing so, it is a notable development that after their network has been taken down by the police, criminals are coming back faster and faster. They often have their own incident response plan ready to go, analyzes IBM.

Revil, a ransomware family responsible for 37 percent of all ransomware attacks in 2021, survived for four years. This was possible because, after police intervention, that group continuously made modifications that allowed them to strike again.

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