Global weekly attacks rose by 7% in Q1 2023 versus the same quarter last year, with organisations facing an average of 1248 attacks per week, according to a new report by Check Point Research (CPR).

While the volume of attacks has only risen marginally, there have been several sophisticated campaigns from cyber-criminals who are finding ways to weaponise legitimate tools for malicious gains.

Recent examples include using ChatGPT for code generation that can help less-skilled threat actors effortlessly launch cyber-attacks, trojanising the 3CX desktop app for a supply chain attack, and leveraging the critical unauthorised RCE vulnerability in the “Microsoft Message Queuing” service (commonly known as MSMQ).

The CPR team also discovered the fastest encrypting ransomware ever seen, all of which demonstrates how attackers are continuing their rampant crimes and never looking back.

According to CPR, CISOs need to focus on developing and implementing a security strategy that removes any blind-spots and weaknesses across the entire digital landscape.

It could be a shadow IT development environment, remote access or email vector that provides an opportunity for a cyber breach. Do they have appropriate segmentation to avoid lateral movement and minimise an attack blast, and do they have access to an incident response service to minimise disruption and speed up recovery?

Now more than any other period previously is the right time to consider a consolidated security approach for end-to-end preventative control, providing the board with assurance that you are fully protected from next generation attacks.

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In the first quarter of 2023, the Education/Research sector was hit the hardest with the highest number of attacks, averaging 2,507 attacks per organization per week, representing a 15% surge from Q1 2022. The Government/Military sector was the second most targeted with an average of 1,725 attacks per week, indicating a 3% increase from the previous year.

The Healthcare sector experienced a significant rise in attacks with an average of 1,684 attacks per week, marking a substantial year-over-year increase of 22%. However, the most significant change came in the Retail/Wholesale sector which saw the highest year-over-year increase of 49% with an average of 1,079 attacks per week.