According to information from the digital security company Acronis, the average costs of data breaches have the potential to exceed US$5 million in 2023. Converting to the current exchange rate, that's more than 25 million reais. publication It happened in December 2022.
Among the findings of the report, there is mention of an increase in the amount of data leaks 60% in 2022. Most scams were carried out via email. The most common technique is phishing. The significant increase was explained by the vice president of the research.
"Attackers are constantly developing their methods, now using common security tools against us — such as MFA (Multi-Factor Authentication), which many companies rely on to protect their employees and businesses," the research clarified.
In the last four months of research, an increase in social engineering attacks accounts for 3% of all attacks. Furthermore, leaked or stolen credentials, which enable these attacks, were the cause of almost half of the reported breaches in the first half of 2022.
Brazil is among the countries most affected by data breaches.
The United States is the country most affected by cyberattacks. It has the highest number of customers with detected malware (22%). Germany comes in second with 8,8%, and Brazil with 7,8%. The trend suggests that Brazil will maintain its position alongside countries like the United States and Germany later this year.
In terms of malware, South Korea, Jordan, and China were the most attacked countries.
A worrying scenario
One of the motivations behind the increase lies in the improvement of security breach techniques by criminal groups. The report highlights the constant feed of ransomware, phishing, and unpatched vulnerabilities as a factor that companies should be careful about in their security strategies.
How can I defend myself against attacks?
The criminals' goal is to avoid raising suspicion and make the reader feel comfortable opening their email, to give one example. To reduce the chances of falling victim to a scam, some tips are helpful.
1. Don't click on every link.
Did you receive an email saying your password has been changed or that a transfer has been made from your bank account? It's simple. Don't click directly on the links. In the first case, access the platform directly through your search engine and enter your password. Assuming everything went well, your credentials haven't been changed. Now, regarding the banks, simply go to your transfer history.
Cybercriminals want to cause panic in people to infect their computers or data. Stay away from their games.
From the same perspective, be wary of offers involving money after registration. Furthermore, do not buy anything from those links. In other words, never enter your credit card information.
2. Know who you're talking to.
Another technique used by criminals is to pretend to be part of the support team. They say they are there to help you, ask for your information, and then lie about not solving your problem. Furthermore, it is also common for them to impersonate companies and banks.
3. Do not reuse passwords.
Considering the possibility that a company you are registered with has suffered a data breach or you have fallen victim to a scam, the perpetrators will try to reuse your passwords to attempt to access other platforms.
In this regard, it is recommended that you have a different password for each account and that they are strong, containing symbols, letters, numbers, and a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters.
It is also recommended that you use and configure two-factor authentication on your platforms.
Learn more about us Privacy Tools Make your company and employees aware of the LGPD (Brazilian General Data Protection Law) and privacy issues. Accelerate your race to compliance and reap the rewards.
