Data breaches could be even more expensive in 2023

Data breaches could be even more expensive next year, a new report from Acronis has claimed.

Based on data collected from more than 750,000 unique endpoints, distributed around the world, the company’s report claims the average cost of a data breach is expected to hit $5 million by next year. 

To make matters even worse – the researchers expect the number of breaches to increase significantly, as well. The threats from malicious and phishing emails rose by 60% year-on-year, they said.

New solutions for new attack methods

Furthermore, social engineering attacks rose in the last four months of the year as well, and now account for roughly 3% of all attacks. Leaked or stolen passwords and other credentials were the triggers for almost half of all reported cybersecurity incidents in H1 2022. 

“The last few months have proven to be as complex as ever – with new threats constantly emerging and malicious actors continuing to use the same proven playbook for big payouts,” said Candid Wüest, Acronis VP of Cyber Protection Research. 

“Organisations must prioritize all-encompassing solutions when looking to mitigate phishing and other hacking attempts in the new year. Attackers are constantly evolving their methods, now using common security tools against us – like MFA that many companies rely on to protect their employees and businesses.”

In the third quarter of the year, the proportion of phishing attacks against malware attacks increased by 1.3 times, and now make up more than three-quarters (76%) of all email attacks (up from 58% in the first half of the year). 

The majority of the victims were located in the United States, but businesses in Germany and Brazil were also heavily targeted. Endpoints in South Korea, Jordan, and China, were the biggest malware targets, too.

Drilling deeper into the different industries that threat actors targeted with phishing and malicious emails, the researchers discovered construction, retail, real estate, professional services, and finance, as the verticals most frequently attacked. 

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