Trend Micro Blocked 8.8 Million COVID-19 Threats in the First Half of 2020

AUCKLAND, 27 August, 2020 – Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), the leader in cloud security, today released its annual mid-year roundup report, which reveals COVID-19 related threats as the single largest type of threat in the first half of the year. In just six months, Trend Micro blocked 8.8 million COVID-19 related threats, nearly 92% of which were spam delivered via emails.

Cybercriminals shifted their focus from January through June to take advantage of global interest in the pandemic. The risk to businesses was compounded by security gaps created by a completely remote workforce.

“The pandemic has dominated all of our lives during the first half of 2020, but it’s not slowing down the cybercriminals,” said Jon Oliver, Director and Data Scientist, Trend Micro. “IT leaders must continue to adapt their cybersecurity strategies to account for increased threats to their new normal. That means protecting remote endpoints, cloud systems, user credentials and VPN systems, as well as refreshing training courses to turn that newly dispersed workforce into a more effective first line of defense.”

In total, Trend Micro blocked 27.8 billion cyber threats in the first half of 2020, 93% of which were email-borne.

Among all the threats in the first half of the year, ransomware was a constant factor. Although the number of detected ransomware threats decreased, Trend Micro saw a 36% increase in new ransomware families compared to the same time last year.

"COVID-19 has reinforced the need for cybersecurity to be on the agenda, particularly as the pandemic forced New Zealand organisations to reconsider how and where they work," said Jon Oliver, Director and Data Scientist, Trend Micro. "We've seen malicious actors take advantage of the situation by diversifying attack tactics, particularly in the form of malware attacks and COVID-19 related malicious URLs.”

Global organisations have also been burdened by a significant spike in newly disclosed vulnerabilities. Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) published a total of 786 advisories, representing a 74% increase from the second half of 2019. Some of these came as part of Microsoft Patch Tuesday updates, which have fixed an average of 103 Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) per month so far in 2020 — including the largest number of patches ever issued in a single month (129) in June.

“With many Australian organisations continuing to rely on remote workers as the new normal, it is important for security leaders to have complete visibility over the vulnerability and CVE landscape,” Jon Oliver continues. “We’re seeing ongoing widespread attempts to exploit internet-facing devices, so it’s imperative organisations monitor CVEs and are prepared with a strong patching strategy to ensure software is up to date.”

Trend Micro also observed a 16% increase in vulnerabilities disclosed in industrial control systems (ICS), compared to the first half of 2019, which could create major challenges for smart factory owners and other organisations running IIoT environments.

To effectively protect dispersed corporate networks, Gartner recommends businesses “refine security monitoring capabilities to reflect an operating environment where network traffic patterns, data and system access vectors have changed due to increased remote and mobile operations.¹” Trend Micro XDR helps customers do exactly that by correlating security events across the entire IT environment, which is critical for holistic protection in the second half of 2020.

To learn more about the threat landscape in the first half of 2020 and how businesses can stay secure moving forward, read the full report here: https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/nz/security/research-and-analysis/threat-reports/roundup/securing-the-pandemic-disrupted-workplace-trend-micro-2020-midyear-cybersecurity-report.
 

¹ Gartner, Be Resilient: Prepare to Treat Cyber Risk Following the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak by Focusing on These 7 Areas, April 17, 2020
 

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro, a global leader in cybersecurity, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Leveraging over 30 years of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro enables resilience for businesses, governments, and consumers with connected solutions across cloud workloads, endpoints, email, IIoT, and networks. Our XGen™ security strategy powers our solutions with a cross-generational blend of threat-defence techniques that are optimised for key environments and leverage shared threat intelligence for better, faster protection. With over 6,700 employees in 65 countries, and the world’s most advanced global threat research and intelligence, Trend Micro enables organisations to secure their connected world. http://www.trendmicro.co.nz/.