Escalating Threat from Industrialized Cybercrime In 2024

Writing in Cyber Magazine, reporter Matt High highlights the 2025 Cyber Threat Report from cybersecurity firm Huntress, which says it looked at hacker activity across three million endpoints worldwide. The report examines a cybercrime landscape that evolved rapidly in 2024, with threat actors becoming faster, more dangerous, and better at evading defenses. They also proved willing and able to target small enterprises using sophisticated attack techniques formerly utilized against large enterprises. 

The healthcare, technology, and education sectors were especially ripe targets. Education was the most victimized, suffering 21% of all attacks. It was followed by healthcare, at 17%, and technology, at 12%. 

At the same time, the Huntress report also found increased cybercrime targeting government and manufacturing sectors. 

The report highlighted several methods used in cyberattacks, including widespread instances of defense tampering, “bring your own vulnerable driver” (BYOVD) privilege escalations, and issues related to User Account Control (UAC). It specifically noted that educational institutions are being targeted with techniques such as credential theft and malicious software disguised as software updates.

Other trends identified by Huntress include increased use of remote access trojans and remote monitoring and management tools. The report also found new kinds of phishing attacks, including QR code phishing and brand impersonation.

The report strongly advocates for proactive defensive measures that must be well-documented for legal reasons. These measures include comprehensive security awareness training, implementation of threat detection mechanisms, ongoing endpoint monitoring, and prompt software patching.

Additionally, the article highlights a recommendation from the Huntress Principal Threat Intelligence Analyst: the importance of having a well-rehearsed incident response plan.