Cloud hacking: India now 2nd most targeted nation after US

With the shift to a more flexible pandemic workforce, cyber criminals have introduced new and updated threats and tactics in campaigns targeting prominent sectors, such as government, financial services and entertainment.

The government was the most targeted sector in Q2 of 2021 with a 64 per cent increase in publicly reported cyber incidents, according to the 'Advanced Threat Research Report: October 2021' by McAfee Enterprise.

"Ransomware has evolved far beyond its origins, and cybercriminals have become smarter and quicker to pivot their tactics alongside a whole host of new bad-actor schemes," said Raj Samani, McAfee Enterprise fellow and chief scientist.

"Names such as REvil, Ryuk, Babuk and DarkSide have permeated into public consciousness, linked to disruptions of critical services worldwide," he added.

The most targeted sectors by ransomware in Q2 of 2021 were the government, followed by telecom, energy, and media and communications.

Spam showed the highest increase of reported incidents -- 250 per cent -- from Q1 to Q2 2021, followed by Malicious Script with 125 per cent and Malware with 47 per cent.

Financial services were targeted the most among the reported cloud incidents, followed by healthcare, manufacturing, retail and professional services.

"The US experienced the most reported incidents in the second quarter, and Europe saw the largest increases in reported incidents in Q2 with 52 per cent," said the report.

The second quarter of 2021 was a vibrant quarter for ransomware, earning its place as a high-profile cyber agenda item for the US administration following the Colonial Pipeline attack.

"In the second quarter of 2021, we continued to see the challenges of shifting cloud security to accommodate a more flexible pandemic workforce and an increased workload, which presented cybercriminals with more potential exploits and targets," the report mentioned.