The Verizon Business 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report (2021 DBIR) found 5,258 data breaches from 83 sources around the world, which is a third more than the previous year.
Phishing and ransomware attacks rose by 11% and 6%, respectively, as a result of the unprecedented number of people working remotely, with instances of misrepresentation rising by 15 times compared to previous year.
Furthermore, statistical data from breaches revealed that credential data was used in 61% of all breaches (95% of organizations suffering credential stuffing attacks had between 637 and 3.3 billion malicious login attempts through the year).
The study report also highlighted the problems companies face as they migrate more business functions to the cloud, with web application attacks accounting for 39% of all breaches.
Commenting on the development, Tami Erwin, CEO, Verizon Business, said “The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on many of the security challenges organizations are currently facing,”
“As the number of companies switching business-critical functions to the cloud increases, the potential threat to their operations may become more pronounced, as malicious actors look to exploit human vulnerabilities and leverage an increased dependency on digital infrastructures”.
This year, the DBIR report team improved and refreshed the Incident Classification Patterns they use to identify security threats. The revised report trends explain 95.8% of all analyzed breaches and 99.7% of analyzed incidents over all time, giving consumers a clearer understanding of the threats that can occur and how their companies can best prevent them.
According to the survey report, a year of unparalleled security threats has been marked by an increase in phishing and ransomware attacks, as well as a continued high number of Web Application Attacks.
The study report analyzed at 29,207 quality incidents, with 5,258 of them being confirmed breaches. Phishing attacks increased by 11%, while ransomware attacks increased by 6%.
85% of breaches were caused by human element, and more than 80% of breaches were found by third parties.
According to Breach simulations, the average cost of a breach is $21,659, with 95% of breaches costing between $826 and $653,587.