NCC Group Cyber Threat Intelligence Report 2024

Keypoints

• Annual cybersecurity reports typically consist of sections such as forewords, incident timelines, statistical analyses, threat actor profiling, sector-specific trends, and case studies detailing recent breaches and law enforcement actions.
• These reports highlight major threats like ransomware, nation-state espionage, and infrastructure attacks, supported by key statistics such as attack volume increases (e.g., a 15% rise in ransomware incidents in 2024) and regional threat levels.
• Notable trends include the shift towards data theft over encryption in ransomware campaigns, increased activity of groups like LockBit and emerging threats such as RansomHub, and the escalation of geopolitical conflicts influencing attack motivations.
• Important findings show a surge in attacks targeting critical sectors like industrials, healthcare, and transportation, with regions such as North America and Europe remaining the most targeted areas.
• Law enforcement efforts, including operations like Operation Cronos and international sanctions, have successfully dismantled large cybercriminal infrastructures, though threat actors adapt quickly, often shifting to new RaaS platforms or affiliates.
• Recurring themes emphasize the importance of proactive security measures, modernization of legacy systems, and leveraging AI-driven security strategies to counter increasingly sophisticated attack techniques in a rapidly evolving threat landscape.