A new report on Vulnerability Exploitation has painted a glum picture of cybersecurity. The process of hunting weaknesses in a digital system and exploiting the same has jumped significantly, the report reveals.
A 3X jump in “Vulnerability Exploitation” is an alarm bell for everyone
Cybercrimes, and nearly every other nefarious activity online, need a weakness that can be exploited. Searching for such holes in the online defense, and breaching the safety and security nets, is collectively called Vulnerability Exploitation.
Verizon Business released the findings of its 17th-annual Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR). The report drew insights from a record-high 30,458 security incidents and 10,626 confirmed breaches in 2023. This is a two-fold increase compared to 2022.
According to the latest report released this week, attempts at the exploitation of vulnerabilities, as an initial point of entry, jumped 3 times compared to the previous year. These types of exploitation collectively accounted for 14% of all types of breaches. This is quite serious for the average internet user as well as businesses.
GitLab, a widely used platform for managing and sharing code, faces a critical vulnerability currently under active exploitation, as reported by CISA.
This vulnerability poses a significant risk to organizations utilizing GitLab for their development operations. It has been… pic.twitter.com/CNbPxBRlth
— FORTBRIDGE (@FORTBRIDGE) May 2, 2024
The new report once again highlights the importance of keeping Operating Systems and other software updated. Exploits heavily rely on users avoiding or delaying installing updates.
The spike in Vulnerability Exploitation was primarily due to cybercriminals targeting vulnerabilities on unpatched systems and devices. However, ransomware actors mainly opted for “zero-day vulnerabilities” that do not have a patch ready and deployed, making intervention difficult.
One of the concerning metrics, included in this year’s DBIR, indicated a spike in “third-party exploitation”. A whopping 68% jump in breaches was observed that involved a third party. This means data custodians, third-party software vulnerabilities, and other direct or indirect supply chain issues proved to be major weaknesses that hackers exploited.
Humans, and not AI, remain the most concerning weakness
There has been a meteoric rise in the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence. Hence, several security experts were worried hackers would increasingly use Gen AI to breach security.
Surprisingly, the rise of artificial intelligence was reportedly less of a culprit in large-scale vulnerability management, said Chris Novak, Sr. Director of Cybersecurity Consulting, Verizon Business,
“The exploitation of zero-day vulnerabilities by ransomware actors remains a persistent threat to safeguarding enterprises. While the adoption of artificial intelligence to gain access to valuable corporate assets is a concern on the horizon, a failure to patch basic vulnerabilities has threat actors not needing to advance their approach.”
🔒 Just in: @Verizon‘s latest #DataBreach Investigations Report (#DBIR) for 2024 is out, shedding light on the ever-evolving landscape of data breaches and #cyberthreats. Read more 👇https://t.co/KhBF1mJpTW pic.twitter.com/HzjdpTVOO9
— SOCRadar® (@socradar) May 2, 2024
What continues to remain a major concern, however, is the unavoidable human element, Chris observed,
“The persistence of the human element in breaches shows that there is still plenty of room for improvement concerning cybersecurity training, but the increase in self-reporting indicates a culture change that destigmatizes human error and may serve to shine a light on the importance of cybersecurity awareness among the general workforce.”
4️⃣ Extortion Tactics Rise: #Vulnerability exploitation alongside extortion in #ransomwareattacks is a growing concern, necessitating proactive security measures.
5️⃣ Insider Threats Remain: Insider-related breaches persist, with a notable drop in collusion incidents.— SOCRadar® (@socradar) May 2, 2024
Some of the notable challenges currently facing internet users are data theft and stolen credentials. These account for almost one-third of all breaches recorded in the last decade, the report indicated.
The report concluded with the need for heightened vigilance. In other words, users should not reply to messages from unknown people, and never hand over confidential data such as PIN, OTP, and more. This single precaution alone would cut down the chances of vulnerability exploitation significantly, the report implied.
