Archive
1-15 February 2013 Cyber Attacks Statistics
It is time for the statistics related to the Cyber Attacks occurred during the first half of January and inserted into the the corresponding timeline.
The Daily Trend of Attacks shows two major peaks, during the 3rd of February (corresponding to the wave of DDoS attacks against Egypt Governmental targets carried on in name of OpEgypt), and just at the end of the month, when the attacks in name of OpKashmir became stronger. A third peak is visible during the 8th and, not a coincidence, it is still due to hacktivism, and in particular to the so-called OpBankUnderAttack.
The Motivations Behind Attacks Chart confirms the trend consolidated in January with Hacktivism still at the top with exactly the same percentage (56%). Cyber Crime Ranks at the second please with one half of the occurrences (28%). It is interesting to notice the Cyber Espionage that has reached its higher value (9%), maybe a consequence of the hype surrounding APT that is characterizing this period. For the first time I also had to insert a new motivation: Art. Frankly I did not find any other way to explain the Democratization of the Offshore Business made by the Italian Artist Paolo Cirio.
SQL Injection keeps on leading the chart related to the Distribution Of Attack Techniques with 31% of occurrences, almost double than DDoS at the second place with 15.6%. It is particularly interesting to notice the presence of Targeted Attacks at the third place, the higher rank ever reached so far. Media hype on the wake of the clamorous attacks of the last days, or a real increased effectiveness of the technologies that allow to detect an increasingly growing number of attacks belonging to this class of threats?
Last but not least, the Distribution of Targets Chart confirms governmental targets at the first place with nearly 30%, immediately followed by, as usual, industries (18.8%) and organizations (12.5%). In any case the level of attention of crooks is also high against targets belonging to the Financial and News sector, which steadily rank respectively at number 4 and 5 of this unwelcome chart with the 10.9% and 9.4%. The others follow….
As usual, no need to remind that the sample must be taken very carefully since it refers only to discovered attacks included in the 1-15 February 2013 Cyber Attacks Timeline (the so-called tip of the iceberg), and hence it does not pretend to be exhaustive but only aims to provide an high level overview of the “cyber landscape”.
If you want to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011, 2012 and now 2013 (regularly updated). You may also want to have a look at the Cyber Attack Statistics, and follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.
Also, feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts).
1-16 February 2013 Cyber Attacks Timeline
Here is the summary of the Cyber Attacks Timeline for February. A month that will probably be remembered for the “sophisticated” cyber attacks to the two main social networks: Facebook and Twitter.
But the attacks against the two major social networks were not the only remarkable events of this period. Other governmental and industrial high-profile targets have fallen under the blows of (state-sponsored) cyber criminals: the list of the governmental targets is led by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Japan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while Bit9, a primary security firm, was also targeted, leading the chart of Industrial targets.
Hacktivists have raised the bar and breached the Federal Reserve, leaking the details of 4,000 U.S. Banks executives. Similarly, the Bush family was also targeted, suffering the leak of private emails.
Even if the list is not as long as the one of January, it includes other important targets, so, scroll it down to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace. Also have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011, 2012, 2013, and the related statistics (regularly updated), and follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.
Also, feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts). To do so, you can use this form.
January 2013 Cyber Attacks Statistics
Here are the statistics related to the Cyber Attacks included inside the January 2013 Cyber Attacks Timelines. A terrible month that has seen an unprecedented number of Cyber Attacks.
The Daily Trend Of Attacks emphasizes the peak in the second half of January, in particular the 24th has seen a surprisingly high rate due to the massive (and last, at least so far) wave of DDoS attacks against the U.S. Banks.
The Motivations Behind Attacks Chart confirms the influence of hacktivism in this early 2013. More than half of the attacks (more precisely the 56%) were motivated by this reason. From this point of view the new year begins in a complete different way than 2012 when, despite the peak of attacks on the wake of the Megaupload shutdown, Cyber Crime led the chart with the 54% (against the 40% motivated by Hacktivism).
Easily predictable, the plenty of attacks against U.S. Banks has brought the DDoS on top of the Distribution Of Attack Techniques Chart with almost the 40% of occurrences. SQLi follows closely with the 33%. It is interesting to notice the relatively high impact of Targeted Attacks (3.8%) mainly due to the sudden disclosure of (purported) Chinese Cyber Attacks against U.S. Media.
Again, the attacks against U.S. Banks push the finance targets on top of the Distribution Of Targets Chart, ten points ahead of Governmental targets that, at least for this time, rank at the second place with the 21% of occurrences. Targets belonging to industry rank at the third place with the 13%.
Even in this promising 2013, no need to remind that the sample must be taken very carefully since it refers only to discovered attacks included in the January 2013 Cyber Attacks Timeline (the so-called tip of the iceberg), and hence it does not pretend to be exhaustive but only aims to provide an high level overview of the “cyber landscape”.
If you want to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011, 2012 and now 2013 (regularly updated). You may also want to have a look at the Cyber Attack Statistics, and follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.
Also, feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts).
1-15 January 2013 Cyber Attacks Statistics
Here are the statistics for the Cyber Attacks occurred in the first half of January 2013 and included inside the corresponding Cyber Attack Timeline.
The Daily Trend of January shows a couple of peaks in correspondence of the 3rd and the 10th of January, during the DDoS attacks of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters (another minor peak occurred during the 8th of January. On average the sample included 4.67 attacks per day.
Even the attack by the Islamist collective contributed to the overtake of the hacktivism against cyber crime shown in the Motivations Behind Attacks chart. One attack on two of the sample was done for this purpose, even if the authors with different connotations: from the protests against the infamous video “The Innocence of Muslims”, to the retaliation for the suicide of Aaron Swartz, going through the different operations carried on by the Anonymous.
In any case, the Distribution of Attack Techniques chart shows frequency of DDoS Attacks did not prevent the SQL Injection of being the preferred weapon for cybercrooks with the 35% of occurrences. DDoS is immediately behind with the 27% of occurrences.
However, the Distribution Of Targets chart shows that targets belonging to finance were the most preferred in this period with the 25% of preferences, certainly a consequence of the wave of DDoS attacks against US Banks. Governmental targets are very close with the 24% of occurrences. Industry targets complete the podium with the 13%, just before targets belonging to Organizations and Education, respectively with the 8% and 7%.
As usual, no need to remind that the sample must be taken very carefully since it refers only to discovered attacks included in the 1-15 January 2013 Cyber Attacks Timeline (the so-called tip of the iceberg), and hence it does not pretend to be exhaustive but only aims to provide an high level overview of the “cyber landscape”.
If you want to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011 and 2012 and the related statistics (regularly updated), and follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.
Also, feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts). To do so, you can use this form.
Related articles
- 1-15 January 2013 Cyber Attacks Timeline (hackmageddon.com)
- December 2012 Cyber Attacks Statistics (hackmageddon.com)
1-15 January 2013 Cyber Attacks Timeline
So here we are with the first Cyber Attacks Timeline for 2013 covering the first half of January.
Apparently the new year has begun with an intense activity by Cyber Crooks. Hacktivists and Cyber Criminals had many time to spend in front of their keyboards during the holiday break, and as a consequence the number of breaches with more than 10.000 accounts compromised is incredibly high. WWF China, the City of Steubenville, Ohio and The German Chamber of Commerce are only three examples of institutions that suffered massive breaches during the beginning of this year.
But the massive breaches are not the only remarkable events of this period: the waves of DDoS Attacks against US banks continued (and promise to extend also in the next weeks), Kaspersky Lab discovered a new massive Cyber Espionage Campaign dubbed “Red October”, and also the Japan Farm Ministry was hit by yet another Cyber Attack, allegedly originating from China…
If this is only the beginning… 2013 promises to be pretty much troubled for system administrators…
If you want to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011 and 2012 and the related statistics (regularly updated), and follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.
Also, feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts). To do so, you can use this form.
December 2012 Cyber Attacks Statistics
December (and hence this 2012) is gone, so it is time to analyze the statistics for the corresponding Cyber Attacks Timelines.
According to the Daily Trend of December, the Christmas break has not stopped the hackers. The trend is quite constant (with a decrease around the end of the month) and with a peak around the 21st of December (the alleged End of the World according to the Mayan Calendar).
The Motivations Behind Attacks chart shows an inversion of tendency in comparison with November. Cyber Crime and Hacktivism had nearly the same impact with respectively the 47% and 46% of occurrences. It is also interesting the presence of Cyber Warfare and Cyber Espionage Campaigns (mainly concentrated in the East).
Also in December, the Distribution Of Attack Techniques Chart confirms the predominance of SQL Injection, even if with a slightly lower impact than the previous month when it was at the 52%: nearly one attack on three has been carried on with this technique. Instead, in almost one attack on four, there was not enough information. Despite the attacks by Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters, the weight of DDoS is progressively decreasing (this category ranks at number four with the 17% of occurrences), while, on the other side, the number of discovered targeted attacks is growing. Maybe they are increasingly attracting the attention of Security Researchers.
Again an inversion in comparison with November: the Distribution Of Targets chart shows that in the December cyber-crooks diverted their attention for targets belonging to the Government sector, even if industries and organizations are very close (the peak of the latter is due to the campaign of the Anonymous against the Westboro Baptist Church. It is also interesting to notice the peak of attacks against Financial institutions mainly due to the waves of DDoS attacks against the U.S. Bank.
As usual, no need to remind that the sample must be taken very carefully since it refers only to discovered attacks included in the December Cyber Attacks Timeline (the so-called tip of the iceberg), and hence it does not pretend to be exhaustive but only aims to provide an high level overview of the “cyber landscape”.
If you want to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011 and 2012 (regularly updated), at the Cyber Attack Statistics, and follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.
Also, feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts).
Related articles
- November 2012 Cyber Attacks Statistics (hackmageddon.com)
- October 2012 Cyber Attacks Statistics (hackmageddon.com)
1-15 December 2012 Attack Statistics
Let us gave a look to the landscape of Cyber Attacks, during the first half of December 2012. Apparently cybercrooks are taking a break for Christmas, since, according to my selection Criteria, the number of attacks has shown a small decrease in comparison with the previous months.
The Daily Trend shows an inconstant trend with two peaks around respectively the 3rd December and the 11th and 12th (the latter due to the peak of Cyber Attacks against the US Banks).
The Motivations Behind Attacks chart shows, for the first time since August, the overtake of Hacktivism against Cyber Crime. Let us see if this trend will be confirmed until the end of the year.
The Distribution Of Attacks chart confirms that SQL Injection confirms to be the weapon preferred by Cyber Attackers with nearly one third of the occurrences (the value reaches nearly the 40% if one sums also the cases in which the attack seems to have been carried on with this technique but no enough evidences have been collected). In my opinion it is also important to notice the presence in the chart of several attacks perpetrated exploiting application vulnerabilities, but also the growing presence of targeted attacks (as usual you can find the details on the corresponding Cyber Attack Timeline.
Instead, at least for the first half of the month, the Distribution of Targets chart seems quite fragmented. Governmental targets lead the chart, but Financial, Industrial and Organizational targets are very close. Maybe the fragmentation depends from the partial sample. The second half of December will tell us if cybercrooks will concentrate their attacks against a specific sector.
As usual, no need to remind that the sample must be taken very carefully since it refers only to discovered attacks (the so-called tip of the iceberg), and hence it does not pretend to be exhaustive but only aims to provide an high level overview of the “cyber landscape”.
If you want to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011 and 2012 and the related statistics (regularly updated), and follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.
Also, feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts). To do so, you can use this form.
1-15 December 2012 Cyber Attacks Timeline
Christmas is coming quickly, we have just passed the first half of December, and hence it’s time for the first update of the Cyber Attacks Timeline for December.
The Team GhostShell has decided to close the year with a clamorous Cyber Attack, and hence,as part of the project ProjectWhiteFox, has leaked 1.6 million of accounts from several organizations all over the world. This is the most important event for this first part of the month that apparently has shown a decreasing trend. Hacktivists are still focusing their attention (and their keyboards) to Israel, and Cyber Criminals are maybe preparing for the Christmas attacks.
However, the main events of the first half of December, are related to hacktivism, besides the above mentioned cyber attack, it worth to mention the new wave of massive DDoS attacks against US Banks (up to 60 Gbps of peak according to Arbor Networks), but also the leak of a ITU document on the future of Deep Packet Inspection and the attacks in Egypt, Mexico and India.
Last but not least: this two weeks also offered a giant attack to the famous Social Platform Tumblr and also the warning of the Switzerland’s national security agency (NDB) that a huge amount of secrets may have been leaked by a disgruntled IT Administrator.
If you want to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011 and 2012 and the related statistics (regularly updated), and follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.
Also, feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts). To do so, you can use this form.
November 2012 Cyber Attacks Statistics
From an information security perspective, November has been a month with two faces. The first part of the month has been characterized by hacktivism, nevertheless the Cyber Crime has reached an unprecedented level with the 69% of occurrences.
Let us begin with the Daily Trend chart. This chart confirms the influence of cyber attacks motivated by hacktivism in the first half of the month that explain the peak around the 5th of November.
Despite the peak of attacks motivated by hacktivism occurred in the first half of the November, the Motivations Behind Attacks chart confirms the predominance of Cyber Crime with nearly the 69% of occurrences, followed by Hacktivism with the 28%. This growing trend of Cyber Crime is in line with the previous months even if the frequency has reached an unprecedented value (the higher so far).
Also in November, the Distribution Of Attack Techniques Chart confirms the predominance of SQL Injection. Nearly one attack on two has been carried on with this technique. It is also interesting to notice the presence of DNS Poisoning: November has brought three attacks executed with this method.
The Distribution Of Targets chart shows the preference of cyber-crooks for targets belonging to the Industry sector. Even if the difference with governmental targets is only one point (19% against 18%), this is in contrast with the previous month where the ranks were exactly opposed (governmental targets led the chart with the 31%). Educational targets are “stable” at the 11% (were the 13% during the previous month). Curiously this month has registered a peak of attacks against Torrent sites.
As usual, no need to remind that the sample must be taken very carefully since it refers only to discovered attacks included in the November Cyber Attacks Timeline (the so-called tip of the iceberg), and hence it does not pretend to be exhaustive but only aims to provide an high level overview of the “cyber landscape”.
If you want to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011 and 2012 (regularly updated), at the Cyber Attack Statistics, and follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.
Also, feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts).
Related articles
- 1-15 November 2012 Cyber Attacks Statistics (hackmageddon.com)
- October 2012 Cyber Attacks Statistics (hackmageddon.com)
16-30 November 2012 Cyber Attacks Timeline
November has gone and it’s time to review this month’s cyber landscape.
From a Cyber Crime perspective, November 2012 will be probably remembered for the breach to Nationwide, one of the largest insurance and financial services providers in the US, a breach that has potentially left up to 1 million users exposed. Unfortunately, in terms of massive breaches, this is not the only remarkable event of the month, just at the end Acer India has suffered a massive cyber attack culminated in the leak of nearly 15,000 records. Not comparable with the breach that affected Nationwide, but for sure of big impact.
Also on the cyber-espionage front this month has been interesting: JAXA, the Japan Space agency has been targeted by yet another targeted attack (after January 2012) and Symantec has discovered W32.Narilam, a new destructive malware targeting several nations in Middle East.
The hacktivist front has been characterized by the dramatic events in Gaza, the attacks have reached a peak around the first half of the month (as in the first part, I did not take into consideration the attacks carried on in name of OpIsrael for which I wrote a dedicated timeline), in any case the Anonymous have found another way to mark this month, leaking 1 Gb of documents from the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Last but not least, this month has seen three large-scale DNS Poisoning attacks (against the Pakistani Registrar PKNIC, Inc., GoDaddy, and the Romanian Registrar). A very rare occurrence!
If you want to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011 and 2012 and the related statistics (regularly updated), and follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.
Also, feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts).
Related articles
- 1-15 November 2012 Cyber Attacks Statistics (hackmageddon.com)
- Timeline of Opisrael (hackmageddon.com)
About The Author
Support My Work!
Share:
News
08/13/2011 - My Post on Android Malware Mentioned on Engadget.
04/14/2011 - The Article Smart Grid: L'ultima Frontiera del Cybercrime published on ICT Security Magazine May 2011.
03/14/2011 - Security Summit 2011: Paolo Passeri guest at Round Table "Mobile Security: Rischi, Tecnologie, Mercato"
02/14/2011 - The Article Gears of Cyberwar published on ICT Security Magazine January 2011.
Visitors from…
