Cyberattacks increase drastically: 17,000 Hackerattacks per Second

How often do cyber attacks take place? Anyone who has studied cyber security will have guessed that digital attacks are not uncommon. But the results of a recent study by Akamai Technologies - one of the world's largest providers of online application and content delivery and acceleration - only highlights how alarmingly high the number of hacker attacks really is.

Cyberattacks increase drastically: 17,000 Hackerattacks per Second

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Cyberattacks increase drastically: 17,000 Hackerattacks per Second

How often do cyber attacks take place? Anyone who has studied cyber security will have guessed that digital attacks are not uncommon. But the results of a recent study by Akamai Technologies - one of the world's largest providers of online application and content delivery and acceleration - only highlights how alarmingly high the number of hacker attacks really is.

The Akamai study data is hard to believe – but true. They were analyzed by Atlas VPN, making them a reliable guide to what’s happening out there on the Word Wide Web.

In fact, companies and organizations worldwide are affected by 17,000 hacker attacks per second. Given that Akamai handles between 15% and 30% of the world’s Internet traffic, this new analysis speaks volumes.

What kind of attacks are we talking about?

Looking at the enormously high number of (attempted) hacker attacks, the question arises as to how these attacks take place. According to the study’s data, the attacks are made up as follows:

  • 72 % Malware
  • 22% Command & Control (C&C) attacks
  • 5% pure phishing attacks

The percentage of phishing attacks appears comparatively low. But 5 percent of 17,000 is still 850 attacks per second. And that’s not all. Because the study does not provide any information on the extent to which the C&C and malware attacks were part of a phishing attack. After all, phishing emails are one of the most successful attack opportunities for cybercriminals. Application and operating system vulnerabilities, web-based attacks, and remote desktop attacks are the only other ways to launch a successful attack besides phishing attacks.

What can I do?

Whether 5% of cyber-attacks on your organization are caused by phishing emails – or a significantly larger percentage – it’s necessary to nip these attacks in the bud. And this can only be done if the employees in your company are appropriately sensitized to the topic and trained in dealing with phishing e-mails.

In short, employees in your company should be able to recognize a suspicious e-mail immediately and report it. This way, the human vulnerability cannot be exploited by cyber criminals.

With the IT-Seal Awareness Academy, users are intensively trained and empowered to immediately recognize malicious links, email attachments and other dangerous content. The continuous training program includes a wide range of methods to effectively reach unsensitized employees: From phishing simulations, to e-learnings, to short videos and online seminars, to awareness materials and notices in the workplace. The result of the Awareness Academy is educated employees who know and accept their responsibility for the security of the company.

Would you like to learn more about how the IT-Seal Awareness Academy can help you establish a sustainable security culture in your company and thus protect yourself from cyber attacks? Contact us!

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