VMware report: “Cybercriminals manipulate reality through integrity and destructive attacks”

Amsterdam, August 4, 2021 – VMware presented its seventh annual Global Incident Response Threat Report at Black Hat USA 2021. This report analyzes how attackers manipulate reality to change the modern threat landscape. The report found a dramatic increase in destructive attacks, with attackers using advanced techniques to launch more targeted, sophisticated attacks that distort digital reality – through business communications compromise (BCC) or through time manipulation.

“We are now seeing the connection between nation states and cybercriminals accelerating the development of increasingly sophisticated and destructive cyberattacks. In addition, the attack surface has increased as a result of COVID-19,” says Huib Dijkstra, Sr. Solution Engineer Security at VMware Netherlands. “The digital and physical worlds are merging and everything can be manipulated by attackers. The reality is that the first adopters of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning are often cybercriminals who roam the dark web and nation-state intelligence services.”

Security teams struggle to overcome these complex attacks and gain insights into new environments such as the cloud, containers and business communications applications. The report also finds that teams struggle with mental health issues and higher expectations at work, with 51% experiencing extreme stress or burnout in the past year.

“A burnout is a major problem within incident response teams, because they always have to respond to major peaks in an environment where people mainly still work remotely,” says Huib Dijkstra. “This underscores the need to build resilient teams, whether that means leaders taking into account rotations of work, empowering individuals to take days off for good mental health, or other initiatives aimed at encouraging personal growth. and development.”

Other key findings from the 2021 Global Incident Response Threat Report include:

• The connection between nation states and e-crime amplifies the threat landscape and exploits vulnerabilities: Of those affected by ransomware attacks in the past year, 64% witnessed partner programs and/or partnerships between ransomware groups. Security teams are also looking for new ways to fight back: 81% said they were willing to use active defense for the next 12 months.
• Advanced techniques are used to make attacks more destructive and targeted: Respondents indicate that victims of targeted attacks now deal with destructive/integrity attacks more than 50% of the time. Cybercriminals succeed by using emerging techniques, such as the manipulation of time stamps or Chronos attacks, which nearly 60% of respondents observed. The move from office work to remote work has also accelerated this with 32% of respondents dealing with attackers using corporate communication platforms to access a particular environment and perform sophisticated attacks.
• With cloud jacking on the rise, cloud security remains a top priority: During the pandemic, many companies were unsure how quickly to deploy cloud technology. This has not gone unnoticed by cybercriminals, who continue to exploit these environments. Nearly half of respondents (43%) said more than a third of attacks targeted cloud workloads and nearly a quarter (22%) said more than half of attacks targeted them. That’s why 6 in 10 respondents say deploying cloud security tools is their priority.

Download the full report here for more information on the evolving threat landscape and for actionable guidance and recommendations for incident responders and security teams.

Methodology
VMware conducted an online survey on trends in the incident response landscape in May and June 2021. A total of 123 cybersecurity and incident response professionals from around the world participated in the survey. Percentages for certain questions are higher than 100%, because respondents were asked to tick all that apply. Due to rounding, percentages used in all questions may not add up to 100%.

VMware software powers complex digital infrastructures worldwide. Its cloud, network and security offerings and digital workspace portfolio provide customers worldwide with a dynamic and efficient digital foundation, supported by an extensive ecosystem of partners. VMware, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, aspires to be a force for good; from groundbreaking innovations to global impact. For more information, visit https://www.vmware.com/company.html

VMware

Ron Grevink
Phone: 030 284 95 00
E-mail: [email protected]

Whizpr

Paul Maris
Phone: 0317-410483
E-mail: [email protected]

– .