Businesses unprepared for 'super weapon' threats

A fifth generation of cyber threats (Gen V), or multi-vector cyber threats, which could cause irreparable harm to the reputation of the compromised company, are on the invcrease.

So says Check Point Research (CPR), the threat intelligence arm of Check Point Software, a provider of cyber security solutions.

According to CPR, the increase in cyber attacks could be partly due to major powers leaking cyber super weapons, or malware used against a nation-state causing it significant harm, such as the SolarWinds Sunburst attack.

“Most companies are only secured against what we call third generation threats (Gen III), which are threats that we've known about since the early 2000s and which seek to exploit vulnerabilities in applications,” said Pankaj Bhula, regional spokesperson at Check Point Software.

However, cyber crime is evolving at such a rapid pace that lagging behind when it comes to protection for weeks or months, never mind years, can have catastrophic consequences, he adds. 

The problem, says CPR, is likely to be compounded by cyber super weapons being developed by major powers.

 “In the real world, it can take months or years to prepare for a military conflict. In the online world, a ‘war‘ can be unleashed in seconds.”

Even small hacker groups could have access to dangerous tools, because it is only a matter of time before strategic cyber weapons are leaked by the major powers. In addition, threats and exploits are freely available on the dark Web, so the number of potential attackers is almost limitless.

Stopping the cyber attack pandemic require cooperation between governments, cyber security companies as well as individual organisations, says CPR.

In May 2021, US entities saw an average of 671 weekly attacks. This is a 25% increase from the beginning of the year. In EMEA, the weekly average of attacks per organisation was 780 in May, compared to 643 at the start of the year, a 21% increase.

The comparison with May 2020 was even more of an eye opener. Year-over-year, there was a 70% increase in cyber attacks on US organisations, and a 97% increase in EMEA.

"Threat detection alone has long been insufficient. Once an attack has penetrated a device or corporate network in any way, it's too late. It is therefore essential to use advanced threat prevention solutions that stop even the most advanced attacks as well as zero-day and unknown threats," concluded Bhula.