Prophecy fulfilled? Deep Instinct reports triple-digit increase in malware following prediction

In 2020, there was a 358% increase in malware and a 435% increase in ransomware attacks compared to 2019, according to a research study conducted by cybersecurity company Deep Instinct. The figures follow a worrying prediction from its co-Founder and CEO, Guy Caspi, who in July warned that “2020 will be a very successful year for hackers.”

According to Caspi, the increase can be credited largely to Covid-19 and the pandemic, which saw the surprise and sudden acceleration in transformations as companies started conducting business on a work-from-home model, thereby widening the attack surface of the organization.

“It’s no wonder that security teams have difficulty keeping up with the onslaught of attacks of every different type,” said Caspi. “And the problem is not limited to the sheer volume of attacks, our study shows that the sophistication of attacks has grown with advanced evasive tactics that make detection much more difficult.”

Deep Instinct’s “2020 Cyber Threat Landscape Report” highlighted that there has been an increase in the attack on Android phone devices by 363% and the month of July had the most malicious activity, with a 653% increase compared to the previous year. Ransomware became a bigger threat than ever before, where hackers used double extortion tactics to pose threats to organizational security and protection. The most manipulated document attack vector was Microsoft Office documents, which saw a 112% increase.

In addition to the report, Deep Instinct will also be hosting a live webinar, “The Pandemic and its Manipulation by the Cyber Underworld” scheduled on Tuesday, February 23 at 1pm Eastern.

Deep Instinct applies end-to-end dep learning to cybersecurity protection. Founded in 2015, its artificial deep neural network brain learns to prevent cyber threats as if second nature. To date, the company has raised $100 million in series C, led by Millennium Technology Value Partners and Unbound, with participation from Palm Drive Capital, LG, and NVidia.