16 Feb MFA fatigue attacks on rise, reveals report
Acronis’ latest cyberthreats and trends report for the second half of 2022 has found that phishing and the use of MFA fatigue attacks are on the rise.
Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) fatigue attacks are an extremely effective method of cyberattack used in high-profile breaches. This social engineering cyberattack strategy sees the attacker repeatedly push second-factor authentication requests to the victim’s email, phone or other registered device.
In Saudi Arabia ransomware remains a significant issue. According to Acronis breaches reported in the Kingdom could reach an average of US$7 million, as the country continues to report one out of five attacks to be ransomware. In the UAE, targeted organisations lost over US$1.4 million in ransomware, forcing over 40% of the impacted companies to shut down.
In light of this worrying trend, the UAE Cyber Security Council announced the adoption of stringent cybersecurity standards to safeguard the country’s digital space.
The report was conducted by Acronis’ Cyber Protection Operation Center and gives an in-depth analysis of the cyberthreat landscape.
“The last few months have proven to be as complex as ever – with new threats constantly emerging and malicious actors continuing to use the same proven playbook for big payouts,” said Candid Wüest, Acronis VP of Cyber Protection Research. “Organisations must prioritise all-encompassing solutions when looking to mitigate phishing and other hacking attempts in the new year. Attackers are evolving, using some of the tools, like MFA, that we rely on to protect our employees and businesses against us.”