CybersecurityCyber trends in 2017: The rise of the global cyberattack
A new report, Cyber maturity in the Asia–Pacific region 2017, distils the major trends from a year’s worth of cyber events and looks at how countries in the region are measuring up to the challenges and opportunities posed by the internet and ever-more-connected IT infrastructure. Although cyber maturity and cybersecurity generally improved over the past year, the threat landscape worsened. Cybercriminals are investing in more advanced and innovative scams, and nation-states are prepared to launch massively destructive attacks causing huge collateral damage.
What are the mega-trends across the cyber landscape in the Asia–Pacific?
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) International Cyber Policy Center’s new report, Cyber maturity in the Asia–Pacific region 2017, distils the major trends from a year’s worth of cyber events and looks at how countries in the region are measuring up to the challenges and opportunities posed by the internet and ever-more-connected IT infrastructure.
In a ASPI blog post, Tom Uren writes that although cyber maturity and cybersecurity generally improved over the past year, the threat landscape worsened. Cybercriminals are investing in more advanced and innovative scams, and nation-states are prepared to launch massively destructive attacks causing huge collateral damage.
The region (like other parts of the world) was affected by two state-sponsored malware attacks that were designed to cause serious damage. The WannaCry ransomware was notable for including EternalBlue (a highly advanced exploit that was reportedly developed by the U.S. National Security Agency), which allowed it to spread rapidly in many Windows environments with poor software update practices. Both the NSA and Britain’s National Cyber Security Center attributed the attack to North Korea. Despite its use of sophisticated technology, WannaCry was so poorly executed that it failed to collect significant ransom money. It also contained a readily identified kill switch, which was used to prevent the malware from spreading. Even so, WannaCry affected more than 200,000 computers in over 150 countries, and the victims included factories, universities, and parts of Britain’s National Health Service.
The NotPetya incident, attributed to Russia, involved a Ukrainian accounting software firm. Hackers breached the software update process and used it to distribute malware to the firm’s clients using the software. The malware then spread through internal networks and wiped victims’ machines. Although it targeted Ukrainian businesses, NotPetya caused huge collateral damage:
