Acronis Cyberthreats Report reports more than a fourfold increase in email attacks in the first half of 2023

A concerning trend is the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for attacks and a significant increase in data theft

PRAGUE, July 3, 2023 – Acronis, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, today published the results of its regular semi-annual Acronis Cyberthreats Report, based on data collected from more than 1 million endpoints protected by Acronis technology. Data collected during the first half of 2023 indicate a growing level of use of generative artificial intelligence (AI), such as ChatGPT, to create malicious content and carry out sophisticated attacks.

Ransomware remains the main threat to SMBs—although the number of new variants is declining, the severity of attacks remains high. Data theft and the theft of credentials used to access sensitive data are equally serious. In the first half of the year, Acronis cyber protection centers detected 464% more phishing email attacks compared to the same period last year. Cybercriminals are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to create, automate, scale, and improve attacks through active learning techniques.

“The intensity of cyberattacks increased again in 2023, demonstrating the activity of hackers who continue to scale and streamline their methods of compromising systems,” said Candid Wuest, Vice President of Research and Development at Acronis. “To defend against these unpredictable threats, organizations need an agile, comprehensive, and centralized solution that provides the necessary visibility to understand attacks, grasp their context, and respond appropriately to any threat—whether it is malware, system vulnerabilities, or anything in between.”   

Key findings of the report:

• The number of publicly known ransomware incidents continues to grow, reaching a record number (more than 400 cases) in March this year
• Globally, phishing remains the most widely used attack vector, accounting for 73% of all email attacks, followed by BEC attacks at 15%. In Europe, the ratio is 63% to 24%.
• Data theft at large companies is increasing; for example, the personal information of 37 million customers of T-Mobile in the USA was stolen.
• Generative AI tools are being used to create malicious emails, automatically generate malware, search for software vulnerabilities, spread deepfake disinformation, and carry out DDoS attacks.

With these trends, Acronis emphasizes the need for proactive cybersecurity measures, including a multi-layered security solution combining anti-malware, endpoint protection (EDR), data loss prevention (DLP), protection against malicious emails, vulnerability assessment, remote monitoring and management (RMM), and backup. With advanced solutions leveraging artificial intelligence, machine learning, and behavioral analytics, users can minimize the current risks of ransomware attacks and data theft.    

For more information about the current Acronis Cyberthreats Report or to download it, visit https://www.acronis.com/en-us/resource-center/resource/acronis-mid-year-cyberthreats-report-2023/