As the United States is one of the most influential countries globally, it is a massive target for hackers. According to the recent Atlas VPN findings, 85% of cyberattacks in the United States come from inside strikes. A total of 204,410,383 attacks were recorded in a single day on May 9th. Out of them — 174,528,081 originated internally.
The second most cyberattacks were recorded from Russia, with a total of 10,579,930 threats. The third position belonged to the United Kingdom, from where 3,677,361 cyberattacks occurred. Germany ranked fourth with a total of 2,561,688 cyberattacks on the US and in the fifth spot was South Korea with 2,532,161 cyberattacks.
According to cybersecurity writer and researcher at Atlas VPN Anton Petrov, “Cybercrime is not going anywhere. In fact, cybercriminals are only getting bolder. To mitigate the risks of the ever-evolving cyber threats, organisations in the US and the rest of the world need to step up their efforts.”
Most attacked industries
Hackers can impact many different industries. However, they choose the ones that can bring them the most value, whether it would be sensitive information or monetary rewards.
- The most attacked industry in the US on May 9th was the financial services sector. The sector faced a total of 59,648,818 cyberattacks.
- Businesses experienced 45,896,830 cyberattacks which put them in second place.
- Next up, the healthcare industry faced 27,127,810 cyberattacks. Cybersecurity-related issues in the healthcare sector compromise the integrity of systems, patients’ privacy and disrupt facilities’ ability to provide patient care.
- The computing and IT industry suffered the fourth most threats with a total of 16,832,530 cyberattacks.
- Lastly, we have the education industry with 13,424,778 cyberattacks. Hackers find the education sector a target because there are lots of valuable data and users.
Growing cyberattacks in the US
When taking a deeper dive into the forms of cyberattacks the US has faced, ransomware was a growing issue in 2020.
US organisations are extremely profitable for hackers. They reach a wider market than most other countries, which often means that they have more resources. Moreover, having more employees, contractors and using more services creates a broader attack surface for hackers to exploit.
Out of 337 ransomware victims last year, 151 (45%), were operating in the US. 39 (12%) of businesses in Canada got trapped by ransomware and were forced to pay up. Third on the list is Germany, where 26 (8%) organisations suffered from a ransomware attack.
Fourth is the United Kingdom, and fifth is France, where 17 (5%) and 16 (5%) businesses respectively have been a victim of a ransomware attack.
Ransomware is a lucrative market. The average ransom paid by organisations in the United States, Canada, and Europe rose by 171% from $115,123 in 2019 to $312,493 in 2020.
