Research from broadband provider Beaming has revealed that there has been an 11 per cent increase in commercial cyber attacks on UK businesses, rising to almost 2,000 per day in the first quarter of 2021.
Infosecurity Magazine reports that Beaming’s analysis of commercial internet traffic found that UK businesses encountered 172,079 cyberattacks each, on average, between January and March 2021, the equivalent of 1,912 per day.
This is an increase from 1,725 attacks per day in Q1 2020 and is the highest malicious web activity recorded in Q1 since Beaming began gathering data in 2016.
Cybersecurity analysts at Beaming discovered 305,136 unique IP addresses that were used as a launchpad for cyber attacks over the internet on businesses during Q1.
While 41,923 of these IP addresses were traced to locations in China, the research also identified high levels of offensive cyber activities originating from the US (32,843) and India (19,392).
Remotely controlled IoT applications and file-sharing services were found to be the most likely targets for online cybercriminals, attracting 175 and 100 attacks per day respectively between January and March 2021.
Sonia Blizzard, managing director of Beaming, said: “The number of cyber attacks launched against UK businesses surged as the country went into Covid lockdown last year, and has remained at exceptionally high levels ever since.”
“The mass move to home and hybrid working means that company data and IT systems are now being accessed via a wide range of personal equipment on unmanaged domestic internet connections.”
She added that each unmanaged connection can provide a potential point of failure for hackers, allowing access to company systems via the public internet and that businesses need to speak with their internet service providers and IT support and services to help bolster their defences against cyber attacks.
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