FortiGuard Reports Cyberattack Attempts During 1H23

Fortinet's semi-annual cybersecurity report, "The Global Threat Landscape by FortiGuard Labs," provides a comprehensive overview of the evolving dynamics of cyber threats and their impact on Latin America. The analysis reveals a staggering 63 billion cyberattack attempts targeting Latin America and the Caribbean in the first half of 2023, underlining the urgent need for both governments and organizations to take immediate and effective cybersecurity measures.

According to Fortinet’s report, Mexico alone experienced over 14 billion cyberattack attempts in the first six months of 2023. This made Mexico the second most targeted country in the region, following Brazil which experienced 23 billion attempts. Succeeding them, Venezuela, Colombia and Chile entered the statistics, grappling with 10 billion, 5 billion and 4 billion attack attempts respectively during the first half of the year. 

The growing sophistication of recent cyberattacks strategies is enabling increasingly precise attacks, resulting in the decreased detection of ransomware incidents. This intriguing development, highlighted by FortiGuard Labs, underscores the need for organizations to remain vigilant, as attackers shift their focus to precision over quantity. 

"Unfortunately, this apparent decrease in activity does not indicate that ransomware activity is subsiding. Instead, it is a sign that ransomware distribution has become more concentrated as ransomware gangs advance their business models by carrying out more targeted attacks,” reads the Fortinet report. In fact, IBM studies show that the global average cost of a data breach triggered by a ransomware attack in 2023 was US$4.45 million, increasing by 15% over the span of three years. 

An equally significant revelation from the report is the rise of unique exploit detections. Over the past five years, FortiGuard Labs identified a staggering 68% increase in vulnerabilities, totaling more than 10,000 in the first half of 2023. While the number of exploit attempts per organization dropped by more than 75%, the sheer number of unique exploits emphasizes the persistent and evolving nature of cyberthreats.

The report also delves into the realm of state-sponsored attacks, revealing that wiper attacks are increasingly being deployed by nation-state actors. Similar to ransomware attacks, wipers might encrypt files with strong encryption, making them inaccessible. However, wiper attacks do not typically involve a ransom demand, given that the attackers' primary goal is destruction rather than financial gain. Unlike many other attacks where recovery is possible with appropriate backups or decryption keys (as in the case of ransomware), wiper attacks often destroy data in a manner that makes recovery extremely difficult or even impossible.

Finally, Fortinet's report highlights an increase in the duration of malware activity. The report indicates that the average lifespan of bot networks, measured by their active communications duration, extended to 83 days in the first half of 2023. This represents a remarkable thousandfold increase compared to figures observed by Fortinet five years prior. 

Altogether, Fortinet's report underscores the critical need for proactive measures against cyberthreats, especially as attackers adopt more sophisticated and targeted approaches. Enhancing cybersecurity practices, fostering collaboration between stakeholders, and investing in robust defense mechanisms are crucial steps that Mexico and Latin American countries can take to mitigate the escalating risks and safeguard its digital landscape.