With the latest release of the FortiGuard Labs Global Threat Landscape Report, Derek Manky and Adrian Sanabria once again discuss the latest attack trends and defensive strategies.
- Attackers were able to weaponize and scale attacks against Log4j much more quickly than previous vulnerabilities.
- Attackers add more Linux malware to their portfolio, as they continue to mature and diversify attack options
- Ransomware attacks continue to become more organized (ransomware-as-a-service) and destructive (the addition of wiper capabilities)
As always, we end on a positive note by focusing on some new research that can help defenders. By mapping observed malware in 2021, FortiGuard Labs was able to identify a handful of techniques, that, if blocked, could prevent most attacks. This is crucial information for defenders, as it eases the challenges of dealing with information asymmetry, where attackers have traditionally had the advantage over defenders.
In other words, it’s far easier to look for a dozen of attackers’ favorite techniques, than to try to detect every possible technique they’ve ever used.