Most reports of cyber incidents ever in 2020

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The threat is growing

The centre for cybersecurity in Belgium CERT received over 5500 reports of cyber incidents in 2020, which is significantly more than in 2019. Every year we see a growth in these numbers. The reports went from phishingfraude, viruses to ransomware that froze entire companies.A lot of companies were targeted by ransomware that block a part or the entire company. The company can’t access any of its own data because crucial data is blocked. Criminals could also threat to release the company's sensitive data over the internet. That would result in image damage or competitors gaining access to all internal information.The reports also showed that cybercriminals are evolving and more “vishing” attacks occurred. This is a combination of voice and phishing where attackers impose themselves as colleagues. They call to steal data of real employees over the phone, and they are good at it. Those malicious individuals also regularly change their phone number to avoid their number to be reported as fraudulent.

More than meets the eye

Unfortunately, the reported number of cyber incidents is only the tip of the iceberg. The real number of these incidents is numerously higher than the reported, since individuals and companies very rarely report they were a victim. There is no obligation to register an attack.You can however take real action and prevent cybercriminals from executing a successful attack:

1. Sensibilize your employees to make them recognize malicious content. If they don’t click the link, or they don’t share these details over the phone, no harm is done
2. Use browser isolation. As all code is rendered to images, no viruses or ransomware can reach the end user. Any possible threat is destroyed after closing your browser window.
3. Protect your company's application by installing application isolation. This way attackers can’t reach your vulnerable API’s to break into your system.
4. Ban passwords all over your company as any password can be passed on to colleagues, with the best intents, should they be absent. Passwords are mostly easy to be hacked and are a serious liability. Read up on working passwordless.

Cybersecurity is ever so important nowadays, so if you need any advice, feel free to contact us.