The number of cyber incidents doubled in 2017
A report by the Online Trust Alliance says that the number of reported cyber incidents, from ransomware attacks to e-mail hacks, doubled to 159,700 last year.
An underestimate: The group points out that many cyberattacks go unreported, and it suggests that the true number “could easily exceed 350,000.”
The biggest threat: Ransomware, like WannaCry and NotPetya, “far outweighs” other attacks, says OTA.
More to come: You can expect surreptitious cryptocurrency mining to join ransomware as a big threat this year. But OTA also says that cloud services and IoT hardware still aren’t secure enough.
What to do: OTA says that 93 percent of attacks reported were avoidable. “Equipping [users] to make good decisions can go a long way toward securing systems,” it adds.
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