40.3% reduction in the number of devices
encountering malware for those with three layers of protection
versus a single layer
WATERLOO, ON, March 29,
2023 /CNW/ -- OpenText™ (NASDAQ: OTEX), (TSX:
OTEX) today released the results of the 2023 OpenText Cybersecurity
Threat Report which explores the latest threats and risks to the
small and medium business (SMB) and consumer segments. Powered by
the BrightCloud® Threat Intelligence Platform, the
OpenText Cybersecurity annual report breaks down a broad range of
threat activity, offers insight into the trends observed, and
discusses wide-reaching impacts for industries, geographies,
companies and individuals.
![OpenText logo (PRNewsfoto/Open Text Corporation) (PRNewsfoto/Open Text Corporation) OpenText logo (PRNewsfoto/Open Text Corporation) (PRNewsfoto/Open Text Corporation)](https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/780816/Open_Text_Logo.jpg)
Threat actors doubled down on longstanding tactics while
demonstrating innovation with new techniques. One notable trend
from the past year was a significant increase in concealing the
location of URLs hosting malware and phishing sites. The percentage
of malicious URLs hidden behind a proxy or geolocation-masking
service increased 36% year-over-year (YoY). Meanwhile, online
cybersecurity threats continue to emerge at an alarming pace. New
malicious websites come online daily, while legitimate sites are
occasionally compromised and co-opted for nefarious purposes.
"Cyber bad actors, including nation-state players, continue to
be persistent, innovative and effective. There is, however, some
encouraging news. A decline in malware infections indicates
comprehensive security measures are effective," said Prentiss Donohue, Executive Vice President,
OpenText Cybersecurity. "Cybercriminals are equal opportunity
offenders. Acknowledging risks and preparing accordingly with a
mulitlayered approach to protecting data are recommended courses of
action for businesses of every size."
Key highlights from this year's report include:
Malware
- Malware on endpoint continues to decline 16.7% YoY
- Rising geopolitical tensions continue to influence malware
campaigns
- Manufacturing remains the #1 targeted industry vertical
- Analyzing high-risk URLs, on average, each malicious domain
hosted 2.9 malware URLs, compared to only 1.9 phishing URLs
Phishing
- Email phishing is the primary vector for infection followed by
remote desktop protocol (RDP); RDP was #1 last year
- Over 1 billion unwanted emails classified as phishing
- Spear phishing email traffic increased 16.4% YoY and now
accounts for approximately 8.3% of all email traffic
- 55.5% year-over-year increase in HTTPS vs HTTP phishing
attacks
Ransomware
- Double extortion from data exfiltration is commonplace in
campaigns at a rate of 84%
- Median ransomware payments meteor spike to almost $200k; up from $70k
last year
- Law enforcement crackdowns on ransomware saw some success but
have yet to make a large impact on the overall threat ransomware
poses
Infection Rates
- 28.5% of businesses with 21-100 protected endpoints encountered
an infection in 2022
- For businesses between 1-20 endpoints, the rate is 6.4%
- For businesses between 101-500 endpoints the rate rose to
58.7%
- And for 501+ the rate was 85.8%
Geographic Breakdown
- The top 50,000 most-active malicious IP addresses originated
from 164 countries
- The Netherlands and
Germany made it into the top five,
along with the US, China and
Vietnam
Multi-layered defense
- 40.3% reduction in the number of devices that encountered
malware for users who adopted all three layers of protection —
Webroot SecureAnywhere, Webroot Security Awareness Training, and
Webroot DNS Protection — versus devices using Webroot
SecureAnywhere alone
- Data confirms, cyber resilience using a layered defense
strategy remains the best defense against today's cybercrime
landscape
To view the complete 2023 OpenText Cybersecurity Threat report,
visit 2023 Threat Report.
Methodology:
The threat intelligence, trends and
details presented in the 2023 OpenText Cybersecurity Threat Report
are based on data continuously and automatically captured by the
BrightCloud® Threat Intelligence Platform, which is the proprietary
machine learning-based architecture that powers all Webroot
protection and BrightCloud® services. This data comes from over 95
million real-world endpoints and sensors, specialized third-party
databases, and intelligence from end users protected by our leading
technology partners like Cisco, Citrix, F5 Networks, and more. Our
threat research team analyzes and interprets the data using
advanced machine learning and artificial intelligence. New to this
year's report is the inclusion of data from Webroot Email Security
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About OpenText Cybersecurity
OpenText Cybersecurity
provides comprehensive security solutions for companies and
partners of all sizes. From prevention, detection and response to
recovery, investigation and compliance, our unified end-to-end
platform helps customers build cyber resilience via a holistic
security portfolio. Powered by actionable insights from our
real-time and contextual threat intelligence, OpenText
Cybersecurity customers benefit from high efficacy products, a
compliant experience and simplified security to help manage
business risk.
About OpenText
OpenText, The Information Company™, enables organizations to gain
insight through market leading information management solutions,
powered by OpenText Cloud Editions. For more information about
OpenText (NASDAQ: OTEX, TSX: OTEX) visit opentext.com.
Connect with us:
OpenText CEO Mark Barrenechea's
blog
Twitter | LinkedIn
Certain statements in this press release may contain words
considered forward-looking statements or information under
applicable securities laws. These statements are based on
OpenText's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and
projections about the operating environment, economies and markets
in which the company operates. These statements are subject to
important assumptions, risks and uncertainties that are difficult
to predict, and the actual outcome may be materially different.
OpenText's assumptions, although considered reasonable by the
company at the date of this press release, may prove to be
inaccurate and consequently its actual results could differ
materially from the expectations set out herein. For additional
information with respect to risks and other factors which could
occur, see OpenText's Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports
on Form 10-Q and other securities filings with the SEC and other
securities regulators. Unless otherwise required by applicable
securities laws, OpenText disclaims any intention or obligations to
update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Copyright © 2023 OpenText. All Rights Reserved. Trademarks owned
by OpenText. One or more patents may cover this product(s). For
more information, please
visit https://www.opentext.com/patents.
OTEX-G
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SOURCE Open Text Corporation