Industrial sector continues to be prime cyber target

London – The industrial sector continues to be the most targeted for cyber-attacks comprising almost a third of all ransomware attacks, Cyber security specialist NCC Group has reported.

An 8% increase in volume in July saw the highest number of attacks within the sector for the year and reflects the importance of critical industries for cyber-criminals, said NCC.

The UK-based firm produced a list of the most effective hackers with the Russian Cl0p identified as the most active threat group in the month, responsible for 171 of 502 (34%) of ransomware attacks.

Second most active was Lockbit 3.0, responsible for 50 (10%) attacks – an actual decline from 60 attacks in June. 

July also saw new threats and rebranded groups, including Noescape exploiting VPN vulnerabilities, and thought to be a rebrand of Avaddon. It is now in the top ten most active groups, accounting for 16 (3%) of the total monthly attacks in July.

North America was the most targeted region in July, experiencing 274 (55%) of all ransomware attacks overall – an increase from 51% of total attacks in June.

Europe was the second most targeted region, experiencing 43 attacks in July, an increase from 27 (23%) from June and Asia ranked in third, witnessing a total of 36 attacks (7%) in July.

Global head of threat intelligence at NCC Matt Hull said: “Record levels of ransomware attacks in July, topping the previous spike in June, demonstrate the continued evolving and pervasive nature of the threat landscape.”

Report from Process Engineering, an associate publication of Euroopean Rubber Journal.