Several years ago, the Covid-19 pandemic shook the world, forcing companies worldwide to adopt remote work.

Many companies even made this move a permanent feature of their business models. However, changes in IT infrastructure brought about by remote work, such as a move to cloud solutions, also shifted the focus of cyber-attacks.

According to the data presented by the Atlas VPN team, based on the Cyber Readiness Report 2022 by Hiscox, cloud servers are now the number one way in for cyber-attacks, with 41% of companies reporting it as the first point of entry — a 10% increase from the year before.

The top cyber-attack vector in 2021, corporate-owned servers, now occupies the third spot on the list. According to the 2022 survey results, 37% of businesses reported them as the main cyber-attack entry method.

Meanwhile, the second spot belongs to business emails. They were named as the main access point for attackers by 40% of businesses.

Nearly half of companies experienced cyber-attacks in the last year.

While the pandemic led to a shift in IT infrastructure in organisations, such as the wider adoption of cloud solutions, the security strategies of businesses fall behind the new technologies.

In total, 48% of companies reported experiencing at least one cyber-attack in the last 12 months. Even with a 60% higher cybersecurity spending, cyber-attacks rose by 5% compared to the year before.

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Out of the surveyed countries, companies in the Netherlands suffered the most. There, 57% of companies reported having experienced cyber-attacks in the last 12 months. Organisations in the Netherlands also saw the most significant rise in cyber-attacks which increased by 16%.

The Netherlands is followed by France, where 52% of organisations had cyber-attacks in the last 12 months. Cyber-attacks targeting French businesses rose by 3% compared to 2021.

Next are organisations in Spain. Spain is the only country surveyed where cyber-attacks decreased compared to the year before. Cyber-attacks targeting Spanish businesses dropped by 2%, from 53% in 2011 to 51% in 2022.

Meanwhile, 49% of companies in Ireland went through cyber-attacks in the past 12 months, followed by the United States with 47%. Cyber-attack numbers there grew by 10% and 7%, respectively.

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