Cyber Attacks Rise by 156 Percent in Manufacturing

Ransomware attacks increased by 25 percent in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the final quarter of 2019, according to Beazley Breach Response (BBR) Services, an arm of cyber insurer Beazley.

Manufacturing was hit the hardest, seeing a 156 percent quarter-on-quarter increase. While vendors and managed service providers were targets before, BBR found ransomware attacks targeting service providers for financial institutions and healthcare organizations spiked.

In the current quarter, cybercriminals are ramping up phishing schemes and other tactics that seize on “the opportunities presented by the pandemic,” the report says. Common strategies include COVID-19-related information, repurposed scam templates to include COVID-19, and spoofs of leading healthcare organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Cybercriminals are “preying on people’s heightened anxiety during this pandemic,” said Katherine Keefe, head of BBR Services. Newly-remote workers “may have weaker IT security than corporate networks typically provide.”

It’s a perfect storm for malicious actors.

This month, REvil ransomware operators started auctioning off data stolen from an agricultural producer, a food distributor, and a law firm representing high-profile celebrities. In March, the ransomware DopplePaymer encrypted and then published data from a manufacturer for Tesla, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Source: CIO Dive