Ransomware threats increased fourfold during 2024, likely driven by prolific Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) activity, according to Barracuda’s annual review of XDR detection and incident data.

Email threats that made it through to user inboxes were the fifth most detected threat overall, highlighting the growing risk of sophisticated and evasive attacks enabled by Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) platforms.

In 2024, Barracuda Managed XDR logged 11 trillion IT events — around 350,000 events per second — to identify a million potential risks and thousands of incidents that required immediate defensive action.

Threat analysts in Barracuda’s Security Operations Center have drawn on datasets to highlight the most common ways threat actors tried to breach and disrupt targets around the world in 2024.

The research found that ransomware threats increased fourfold during 2024, alongside the widespread availability and use of Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) platforms.

Barracuda Managed XDR’s ransomware threat data is based on the detection of tools, techniques, or behaviours that indicate an unfolding or imminent ransomware attack. These highlight how attackers hunt down and leverage unprotected devices and access points to further their attack.

The most common threats targeting XDR-protected systems in 2024 show where threat actors expect customers to be most vulnerable. They include inadequate authentication measures for account logins, poor password policies, and a lack of education about social engineering, alongside under-protected VPNs and the poorly managed use of remote desktop protocols.

The research found that email threats that made it through to user inboxes were the fifth most detected threat overall, highlighting the growing risk of sophisticated and evasive attacks enabled by Phishing-as-a-Service (PhaaS) platforms.

“The rise of as-a-service platforms is helping to power the growing sophistication, agility, and evasive nature of cyberattacks, from ransomware to phishing,” said Eric Russo, Director, SOC Defensive Security at Barracuda.

“The developers behind these platforms often have the time, resources, and skills to invest heavily in advanced and evasive toolsets and templates. Organisations need deep, extended security to boost their defences and cyber resilience against such attacks.

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“A comprehensive XDR solution that integrates network, endpoint, server, cloud, and email security means that every corner of the digital infrastructure is monitored and protected with advanced security measures and a full spectrum of defensive tools, combined with proactive threat hunting and response strategies.”

The data also shows the speed of unfolding attacks in 2024. Advances in security tools and strategies mean that intruders are now more easily and quickly detected and removed from the network. Threat actors have responded by accelerating their attacks. Barracuda Managed XDR’s detection data and incident examples from 2024 show how these two approaches might compare.