Security News > 2021 > February > Attackers disrupting COVID-19 efforts and critical supply chains

In 2020 attackers were observed pivoting their attacks to businesses for which global COVID-19 response efforts heavily relied, such as hospitals, medical and pharmaceutical manufacturers, as well as energy companies powering the COVID-19 supply chain.

"In essence, the pandemic reshaped what is considered critical infrastructure today, and attackers took note. Many organizations were pushed to the front lines of response efforts for the first time - whether to support COVID-19 research, uphold vaccine and food supply chains, or produce personal protective equipment," said Nick Rossmann, Global Threat Intelligence Lead, IBM Security X-Force.

Key highlights Cybercriminals accelerate use of Linux malware - With a 40% increase in Linux-related malware families in the past year, according to Intezer, and a 500% increase in Go-written malware in the first six months of 2020, attackers are accelerating a migration to Linux malware, that can more easily run on various platforms, including cloud environments.

With the rise in open-source malware, attackers may be looking for ways to improve their profit margins - possibly reducing costs, increasing effectiveness and creating opportunities to scale more profitable attacks.

According to the report, in 2020 the world experienced more ransomware attacks compared to 2019, with nearly 60% of ransomware attacks that X-Force responded to using a double extortion strategy whereby attackers encrypted, stole and then threatened to leak data, if the ransom wasn't paid.

Europe felt the brunt of 2020 attacks - Accounting for 31% of attacks X-Force responded to in 2020, per the report, Europe experienced more attacks than any other region, with ransomware rising as the top culprit.

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