Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 09 | Page 27

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TRENDING CHECK POINT RESEARCH: GLOBAL IMPACT OF CRYPTOMINERS DOUBLES IN H1 2018 Check Point’s Cyber Attack Trends: 2018 Mid-Year Report reveals 42% of organisations globally were hit by cryptomining attacks, while sophisticated Gen V attacks on cloud infrastructures are growing. C heck Point has released its Cyber Attack Trends: 2018 Mid-Year Report, revealing that cybercriminals are aggressively targeting organisations using cryptomining malware to develop illegal revenue streams. Cloud infrastructures are also a growing target for threat actors according to the research. Between January and June 2018, the number of organisations impacted by cryptomining malware doubled to 42%, compared to 20.5% in the second half of 2017. Cryptomining malware enables cybercriminals to hijack the victim’s CPU or GPU power and existing resources to mine cryptocurrency, using as much as 65% of the end-user’s CPU power. The top three most common www.intelligentcio.com malware variants seen during H1 2018 were all cryptominers. In a new trend, Check Point detected an increasing number of attacks targeting cloud infrastructures. With organisations moving more of their IT estates and data to cloud environments, criminals are turning to the cloud to exploit its vast computational power and multiply their profits. The Cyber Attack Trends: 2018 Mid-Year Report gives a detailed overview of the cyberthreat landscape in the top malware categories: cryptominers; ransomware; banking; and mobile. These findings are based on data drawn from Check Point’s ThreatCloud in telligence between January and June 2018, highlighting the “ BETWEEN JANUARY AND JUNE 2018, THE NUMBER OF ORGANISATIONS IMPACTED BY CRYPTOMINING MALWARE DOUBLED TO 42%, COMPARED TO 20.5% IN THE SECOND HALF OF 2017. INTELLIGENTCIO 27