Cyber Threat Intelligence Reports

Threat intelligence from over 3,000 yearly incident response engagements feeds the Cyber Threat Landscape Reports from Kroll. The reports also include real-life case studies to help security and risk leaders “see” how incidents can play out. Get the latest report now.

Q4 2023 Cyber Threat Landscape Report: Threat Actors Breach the Outer Limits

Q4’s rise in the use of external remote services as a ransomware attack vector sets the tone for what is already looking to be a demanding year ahead. With the popularity of remote or hybrid working, organizations must be vigilant in ensuring they have strong defenses in place both centrally and at perimeter level.

Key Findings

The professional services sector saw a year-on-year 8% rise in incidents
Critical changes in attacker behavior, including initial access methods
Increased activity among emerging ransomware actors, AKIRA and PLAY
Phishing is the most common attack vector, but valid account attacks saw a 10% increase

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Q3 2023 Threat Landscape Report: Social Engineering Takes Center Stage

Social engineering in its many forms took center stage in Q3 2023. The quarter saw “human hacking” evolve from a long-standing security challenge to threat actors’ method of choice. This was evidenced by our observations of the dramatic escalation of social engineering tactics, with significant increases in phishing, smishing, valid accounts, voice phishing and other tactics—adding up to the highest volume of incidents we have seen in 2023.

Key Findings

The increasing volume of social engineering attacks is matched by a broadening range of approaches leveraged by threat actors
A 13% rise in email compromise attacks as part of the rise in social engineering
The professional services sector continued to rank first in Q3, with a high concentration of this activity related to legal firms

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Q2 2023 Threat Landscape Report: All Roads Lead to Supply Chain Infiltrations

Kroll’s findings for Q2 2023 reveal a notable shift towards increased supply chain risk, driven not only by the CLOP ransomware gang’s exploitation of the MOVEit transfer vulnerability but also by a rise in email compromise attacks. This and other key security trends depict a threat landscape where cyber threats are lurking behind every corner.

Key Findings

A 33% rise in CLOP ransomware activity due to the MOVEit transfer vulnerability
An 8% rise in email compromise attacks, with new session token stealing tactics and open redirect phishing campaigns challenging blue teams
The industries targeted the most in Q2 2023, including an ongoing attack on professional services, closely followed by an increased focus on financial services

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Q1 2023 Threat Landscape Report: Ransomware Groups Splinter, Swarm Professional Services Sector

In Q1 2023, Kroll observed a 57% increase in the overall targeting of the professional services sector from the end of 2022. Ransomware propelled this increase, as the sector, particularly legal firms, was the most likely target of extortion and encryption attacks in Q1.

Key Findings

Key themes and patterns in the changing threat landscape and how these could impact organizations in 2023
Critical shifts in attacker behavior in the past quarter, including popular incident types and initial access methods and the use of exfiltration
Notable trends, such as a 56% increase in the number of independent attackers conducting ransomware operations outside of the established ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) groups
The continued reinvention and evolution of threat actor groups and attack methods

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Q4 2022 Threat Landscape: Tech and Manufacturing Targeted as Ransomware Peaks for 2022

In Q4 2022 Kroll identified a volatile and fragmented threat landscape, with ransomware peaking and tech and manufacturing sectors being increasingly frequently targeted.

Key Findings

The Manufacturing, Healthcare and Technology sectors saw significant quarter-over-quarter increases in ransomware attacks in Q4 2022
Familiar threats remained active throughout 2022, with phishing rising and unauthorized access increasing from 18% in 2021 to 25% in 2022
Since the Conti disbandment, LockBit became the most commonly observed ransomware across Kroll engagements in 2022, with newcomers like BlackBasta and Royal becoming increasingly active

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Q3 2022 Threat Landscape: Insider Threat, The Trojan Horse of 2022

In Q3 2022, Kroll saw insider threat peak to its highest quarterly level to date, accounting for nearly 35% of all unauthorized access threat incidents, set against a background of an increasingly fluid labor market and economic turbulence.

Key Findings

Q3 saw an increase in insider threat incidents, accounting for a jump in unauthorized access as a threat incident type, which went from 24% in Q2 to 35% in Q3.
Kroll observed an increase in malware due to the increased popularity in credential stealing malware, which has driven a rise in the use of valid accounts as initial access methods.
With the shutdown of the Conti ransomware group, the official release of LockBit 3.0 dominated the ransomware headlines in the first part of Q3.

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Q2 2022 Threat Landscape Report: Ransomware Returns, Health Care Hit

In Q2 2022, Kroll observed a 90% increase in the number of healthcare organizations targeted compared to Q1 2022, dropping the final nail in the coffin for the “truce” some criminal groups instituted earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key Findings

Healthcare overtook professional services as the top targeted sector in Q2, accounting for 21% of all Kroll cases, compared to only 11% in Q1 2022
Phishing attacks continued to evolve in Q2, as Kroll observed threat actors using old and new malware such as Qakbot and Bumblebee
External remote services such as RDP and VPN were used for initial access 700% more this quarter and CVEs were exploited for initial access 46% more in Q2

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About Kroll’s Cyber Threat Landscape Reports

Handling over 3,000 cyber incidents worldwide every year, Kroll is one of the largest incident response providers in the world. This unparalleled volume of investigations feeds a rich cyber threat intelligence database, from which our investigators and analysts publish trends every quarter.

Kroll’s Cyber Threat Landscape Reports are solely driven by real-life data from incidents and insights from our investigators on the frontlines. Each report focuses on:

The most popular threat incident types, including ransomware, email compromise, unauthorized access, web compromise and more
Quarterly threat timelines to help network defenders, security and risk leaders catch up with meaningful developments in malware development, vulnerabilities and threat actor movements
Most targeted industry sectors, identifying the industries under the heaviest volume of attacks
Most popular initial access methods, including phishing, external remote services (like VPN, RDP, etc.), CVE/ zero-day exploitation, SQL injection and more
Most popular ransomware variants, outlining the threat actor groups that have been most aggressive
Recommendations from Kroll experts on how to improve your security posture

The reports also include real-life case studies to help security and risk leaders “see” how incidents can play out and understand how Kroll responds to incidents.

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