The Check Point Research Security Report 2021 highlights the key attack vectors and techniques observed by Check Point researchers as criminal, political and nation-state threat actors exploited the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to target organisations across all sectors.

Check Point Research’s Security Report 2021 headline findings include:

1. Cloud adoption races ahead of security: 2020 saw organisations’ digital transformation programs advance by over five years in response to the pandemic, but public cloud security is still a major concern for 75% of enterprises

2. Remote working is targeted: hackers ramped up ;thread hijacking; attacks on remote workers

3. Double-extortion ransomware attacks rise: in Q3/2020, nearly 50% of ransomware incidents involved the threat of releasing data stolen from the target organisation. On average, a new organisation becomes a victim of ransomware every 10 seconds, the report says

4. Big increase in attacks on the healthcare sector: in Q4/2020, Check Point Research reported that cyber-attacks (especially ransomware attacks) on hospitals worldwide had increased by 45%, because criminals believe they are more likely to meet ransom demands due to the pressures from COVID-19 cases

5. Mobile phones are moving targets: 46% of organisations polled had at least one employee download a malicious mobile application, which threatens their networks and data in 2020. The increased use of mobile phones during global lockdowns has also driven growth in banking and information-stealing mobile Trojans