Network attacks, the protagonists of the latest Internet Security Report

Today’s threat landscape is evolving rapidly. Attackers are constantly adjusting their tactics and finding new ways to infiltrate organizations with increasingly sophisticated attacks to steal valuable data. As such, businesses and IT professionals must remain up to date on the industry’s latest threat intelligence in order to better understand the current state of this cybersecurity landscape and know their enemies to shore up defenses. 

“The continued shift to a hybrid workforce is making attack surfaces larger and creating more potential security holes for organizations to plug,” says Corey Nachreiner, chief security officer at WatchGuard. That’s why each quarter, WatchGuard’s Threat Lab research team produces a report on the latest trends in malware and network attacks based on anonymized data from WatchGuard security appliances deployed around the world.   

Our latest Internet Security Report included many key findings and best practices that midmarket organizations and the managed service providers that support them can use to ensure that their defenses are up to the task of fending off today’s most prevalent security attacks. Let’s take a look at the headlines:   

• Total network attack detections continue to climb, highlighting the complexity of network security. 
• Malware threats were detected in EMEA at a much higher rate than in other regions in the world. 
• 78% of malware delivered via encrypted connections is evasive.  
• A new leader in Office exploit malware emerges – Q4 saw a significant incidence of malware targeting Office documents, similar to findings from Q3. 
• Emotet comes back with a vengeance. Two new malware domains were added this quarter to the list of top malware domains detected by WatchGuard. 

The full report includes details on additional malware and network trends from Q4 2021, a detailed analysis of the Log4Shell vulnerability, recommended security strategies and critical defense tips for businesses of all sizes and in any sector, and more. Don’t miss it! 

For a detailed view of WatchGuard’s research, you can also download the Q4 2021 Internet Security Insights infografic and  join WatchGuard CSO Corey Nachreiner and Security Operations Manager Marc Laliberte on the on-demand webinar Top Security Threats Worldwide: Q4 2021