MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. In the third quarter of this year, hackers transitioned from mass attacks to more complex and targeted attacks on Russian companies, RTK-Solar experts reported based on an analysis of more than 265 organizations from different sectors of the economy for the quarter.
"In the third quarter of 2022, malware use was connected to more than half (59%) of very significant cyberattacks on Russian companies. Malware accounted for no more than 14% of attacks in the first and second quarters of the year, while network and online attacks held the top spot. This shift suggests that whereas hackers were probing infrastructures and launching widespread attacks in the first half of the year, they are now focusing on more sophisticated and targeted attacks," the report said.
According to the report, another 27% of critical incidents involve the exploitation of vulnerabilities, 3% involve account breach, and 11% involve other types of attacks. Web attacks, which by Q2 had accounted for 90% of all critical incidents, had all but disappeared from hackers' toolkits. Less than 1% of attacks between July and September were web-related.
The total number of incidents tallied by RTK-Solar experts has increased from 184,000 to more than 214,000 since the beginning of the year. "This is slightly lower than in the second quarter, but still significantly higher than the numbers at the beginning of the year. In addition, attacks have become more dangerous. Phishing emails are the primary method used to spread malware, and encryption viruses are responsible for 25% of critical incidents," the experts noted.