CSIRT-CY, Cyprus’ Computer Security Incident Response Team announced Friday that reports have shown that every 11 minutes there was a ransomware attack during 2021. Figures for 2019 show that these attacks occurred every 39 seconds. CSIRT-CY issued an announcement Friday to warn citizens about these attacks and to give them practical advice when navigating on the web, buying online, visiting certain pages etc.
CSIRT-CY said that in 2021 43% of the attacks targeted SMEs and these attacks recorded an increase of 400% since the pandemic broke out. It noted that many companies and organisations as well as foreign governments were victims of theft of copyright, trade secrets and other extremely valuable information by APT groups (Advanced Persistent Threat).
APT groups gain access to passwords of the users and can locate sensitive information. Risk can be minimised with proper protection practices and anti-virus software, CSIRT-CY said.
CSIRT-CY also warned about common methods of cyberattacks such as phishing/malware.
(CNA)
