20 scary cybersecurity information and figures for a haunting Halloween

Digital Safety

Cybersecurity Consciousness Month attracts to a detailed and Halloween is simply across the nook, so here’s a bunch of spine-tingling figures about some very actual tips and threats lurking on-line

30 Oct 2023
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4 min. learn

October is Cybersecurity Consciousness Month (CSAM) within the US and Canada and European Cybersecurity Month (ECMS) on the opposite aspect of the pond. These campaigns signify an incredible alternative to share finest observe and enhance consciousness of all issues cybersecurity amongst companies and shoppers alike.

However October can also be the scariest month of the 12 months. So with Halloween simply across the nook, it appeared like a good suggestion to mix the 2 occasions, and share 20 high information and figures to scare the wits out of anybody who values their safety. Why 20? As a result of 2023 marks twenty years of CSAM.

This 12 months’s CSAM has a quite simple four-pronged message for bettering your safety:

• Use robust passwords and a password supervisor
• Activate multi-factor authentication (MFA)
• Acknowledge and report phishing
• Replace your software program

Our high 20 spooky safety information that can hang-out you

With the above in thoughts, listed here are 20 terrifying safety information to maintain these ideas high of thoughts:

• Phishing was the commonest type of cybercrime in opposition to companies and shoppers final 12 months, in keeping with incidents reported to the FBI. There have been 300,000 in complete reported in 2022, though even this seemingly represents simply the tip of the iceberg.
• Phishing assaults use many lures. The commonest within the first half of 2023 was social media-themed lures, in keeping with ESET Menace Report H1 2023. These accounted for 37.5% of all phishing web sites.
• Username/password mixtures are in excessive demand, as a result of they will grant hackers entry to your on-line private and banking accounts. One 2022 report discovered greater than 24 billion such mixtures on the darkish net, up from 15 billion in 2020.
• Software program updates are important to repair newly found vulnerabilities which cybercriminals can in any other case exploit. Final 12 months, a document quantity of those vulnerabilities had been found and revealed: 25,096.
• Some 80% of vulnerabilities reported in 2022 had been both medium or excessive severity, with 16% deemed essential. Nonetheless, even non-critical vulnerabilities may be exploited by cybercriminals to damaging impact.
• Phishing continues to be an enormous money-maker for cybercriminals. In 2022 alone it price shoppers and companies over $52 million, in keeping with the FBI.
• MFA is a good way to mitigate the specter of phishing and safe your on-line accounts. But 44% of Individuals are solely “considerably acquainted” or haven’t heard of it in any respect, in keeping with one examine.
• It’s not notably shocking then that solely 2.6% of X (previously Twitter) customers have MFA switched on to guard their account from phishing. Social media is a well-liked goal for cybercriminals, so it is best to guard your accounts from unlawful takeover.
• Not all kinds of MFA are created equal, as a result of hackers can intercept codes despatched over textual content with relative ease. But SMS continues to be the preferred type of MFA. On Twitter (now X), it accounted for 74% of MFA in 2021, adopted by the safer choices of authentication apps (29%) and safety keys (1%).
• It’s necessary to make use of distinctive, hard-to-guess credentials for your entire accounts. A 2022 examine by Digital Shadows discovered that 40 of the highest 50 commonest passwords may be cracked in underneath a second.
• Based on the identical examine, practically one in each 200 passwords is “123456,” which may be simply guessed by cybercriminals.
• It’s essential to alter your passwords if they’ve been concerned in an information breach. But in keeping with one 2021 examine, lower than half (48%) of breach victims change the passwords on the breached account.
• Password reuse is harmful as it could allow hackers to open a lot of your accounts with a single stolen credential. But simply 15% of shoppers use a singular password on every account.
• Stolen credentials can have a essential affect in your digital life and funds. Over half (55%) of identification crimes stemmed from compromised passwords final 12 months.
• Identification fraud stemming from stolen passwords may even trigger emotional and psychological issues. Almost a fifth (16%) of US victims reported ideas of suicide when interviewed this 12 months.
• When cybercriminals pay money for your passwords, they will hijack your social, banking and different accounts. Over a fifth (22%) of US adults have been a sufferer of account takeover (ATO), in keeping with one 2021 examine.
• Account takeover can price victims pricey: the typical monetary loss from monetary ATO assaults is practically $12,000.
• As consciousness grows, issues over cybersecurity are additionally growing. Almost half (46%) of Individuals really feel assured in regards to the safety of their on-line accounts and 56% are extra involved about their on-line security than ever earlier than, in keeping with Google.
• Password resets are necessary for those who’re involved your account might have been breached, or a company you do enterprise with notifies you of a breach. A fifth (21%) of Individuals reset their passwords day by day or a number of instances per week, which can suggest that they rely an excessive amount of on reminiscence.
• Password managers are a good way to retailer lengthy, robust and distinctive passwords for each app and website. But, in keeping with the identical survey, solely 44% of Individuals at the moment use one.

Keep in mind: good cybersecurity is for all 12 months spherical, not only for Halloween. So replace your software program when prompted, select robust and distinctive passwords or passphrases and retailer them in a password supervisor, change on MFA on all accounts that supply it, and get conversant in tell-tale phishing ways. Keep protected.

This video may also assist put you heading in the right direction to higher password safety: