Intelligent CIO APAC Issue 01 | Page 41

FEATURE: CYBERSECURITY Attackers can steal data, plant malware or conduct other harmful actions without detection. They may use stolen corporate credentials themselves or sell the credentials to other threat actors. In 2020, phishing attack numbers will continue to rise, with attempts now being launched through cloud applications, in addition to traditional emails. The implicit trust users have in their corporate cloud environments will inadvertently leave them more vulnerable to phishing tactics. • Ransomware – 65% of global organizations reported a ransomware infection in 2019. In March 2020, ransomware attacks increased 148% according to VMware. Victims of the 11 biggest ransomware attacks (so far) have spent over US$144 million on ransomware clean-up costs, ranging from investigation to recovery, to added prevention and paying hackers ransoms. Ransomware is pervasive because it is so effective and provides a relatively easy path for attackers, to achieve devastating effects. Ransomware kits are cheap and readily available on the Dark Web. • Cloud Jacking – COVID-19 has accelerated Digital Transformation, notably with many organizations increasing cloud adoption and shifting more and more services and workloads into the cloud. The massive volumes of data being stored in the cloud make it top target for malicious actors. www.intelligentcio.com INTELLIGENTCIO 41