Q1 in 2024 Shows an Increase in Cyberattacks

There was a 7% increase in cyberattacks in the first quarter of 2024, according to a cybersecurity threat report by Positive Technologies. The use of remote access tools (RATs) rose to 32% in attacks on organizations. 

Malware with RATs is often used in phishing attacks, one of many social engineering strategies targeting individuals as a way into company data. In general, cyberattacks are becoming more complex as threat actors seek to gain control of targeted systems through remote mediums.

According to the report, cybercriminals are using AI to bolster attack capabilities and create fake credentials. Anuj Mudaliar, reporting in Spiceworks, says that a cyber-crook claimed to have data on 48 million Europcar car rental customers. The company says the data could have been accessed using a Python library faking AI tool.

Package managers and open-source libraries are in wide use by threat actors. More than 100,000 fake repositories were discovered on GitHub, each containing malicious code. Other package managers including NPM and PyPI were also in use.

Threat actors also created malicious packages with names similar to legitimate ones, using typing errors to distribute malware. Such threats highlighted the risk of open-source code and the need for careful verification.

The report’s sponsor suggested these best practices for mitigating threats that come with this increase in cyberattacks:

• Monitoring
• Investment in training and awareness programs
• Establishing vulnerability management infrastructure
• Inventorying and classifying data assets with control policies
• Securing software supply chains
• Implementing sandboxes to detect malicious activity