Midyear 2021 Cybersecurity Landscape Review: Attacks From All Angles Abound

As enterprises move toward the rest of the year, it is helpful to look back and learn from key cybersecurity incidents that shaped the first half of 2021.

Threat actors and ransomware operators bombarded the security landscape with one major attack after another, making it difficult for affected enterprises and their customers to recover amid the current pandemic.

In total, nearly 41 billion threats were blocked and detected across files, emails, and URLs in the first six months of the year. The following is a rundown of data related to the crucial security issues that enterprises faced during this period, as examined in our report, 'Attacks From All Angles: 2021 Midyear Cybersecurity Report.'

Ransomware detections decreased by more than half, from over 14 million in the first half of 2020 to over 7 million in the same period this year. However, this does not necessarily mean that ransomware is no longer a pressing security issue; in fact, ransomware continues to mutate into a more vicious threat. This shows how attackers are moving from the opportunistic and quantity-focused model to more targeted modern ransomware methods and big-game hunting.

Both premodern and modern ransomware are among the top 10 most detected for the first half of this year. The premodern ransomware WannaCry (aka WCry) still tops the list, although detections for it significantly dipped. On the other hand, detections for modern ransomware such as DarkSide, REvil (aka Sodinokibi), and Nefilim increased, as operators continue to enhance their techniques and extortion schemes.