Microsoft Digital Defence Report 2023 reveals a huge rise in attacks

The Microsoft Digital Defence Report 2023, covering July 2022 to June 2023, has unveiled some startling facts. The capabilities of criminals and nation-states have significantly improved, with services ranging from Cybercrime-as-a-Service to Phishing-as-a-Service. Having personally investigated breaches within organisations, it’s clear how challenging it is becoming to maintain a robust defence.

One statistic that stood out was the increase in identity attacks from approximately 1500 per second to a staggering 4000 per second – a 250% increase within a year!

The report highlights that basic protective measures can defend against 99% of attacks. These measures include:

• enabling multi-factor authentication;
• applying Zero Trust principles;
• using XDR and anti-malware;
• patching/updating systems; and
• protecting data.

Cybercriminals are working tirelessly to bypass these security measures with targeted attacks. Interestingly, 70% of organisations that encountered human-operated ransomware had fewer than 500 employees.

The security challenges persist with less than 15% of NGOs having security staff. Additionally, the failure of organisations to update and patch/replace legacy systems and IoT devices continues to pose a threat.

The security landscape will continue to present challenges. However, leveraging external skills and services like secure365 with a Microsoft-first approach can help organisations reduce their risk of becoming easy targets for criminals.

The report can be downloaded here: https://aka.ms/aka.ms.mddrrep