Last Updated on May 24, 2015
It’s time to aggregate the stats of the August Cyber Attacks Timelines (Part I and Part II).
As usual, let us start from the Daily Trend of Attacks, which shows quite a heterogeneous trend with two peaks around the 18 and 21 August. Despite the summer, the overall level of attacks has been quite high throughout the month.
The Motivations Behind Attacks chart confirms Cyber Crime at number one, substantially in line with the previous month (56.3%). Hacktivism ranks at number two with 28.2% (was 23% in July), while the Cyber Espionage operations keep on occupying an important role. Even if the reported 14.1% shows a decrease compared with the 18% of July, the value is similarly noticeable. A sign that the influence of targeted attacks in the news is still strong (in wake of the multiple attacks caused by financial malware).
The Distribution Of Attack Techniques reveals an unprecedented 18.2% of targeted attacks, allowing this category to attain a deserved first place (shared with the category of unknown attacks). Defacement is immediately after (15.2%), while the other categories are further behind. It is also interesting to notice the decrease of DDoS and SQLi.
Governmental targets are back on top of the Distribution of Targets Chart with 29.6%, slightly ahead of industrial targets at number two with 28.2%. The others are well behind, with the partial exception of attacks towards single individuals (11.3%), nearly as much as twice of those against news and education targets (5.6%).
A deeper look at the distribution of the industrial targets, shows a predominance of E-Commerce sites (20%, again an effect of the financial malware outbreak) and Restaurants (15%). The others follow with less than 10%. On the other hand, there is not so much to mention for organizations, few cases, mostly concerning non-profits.
Once again, please bear in mind that the sample must be taken very carefully since it refers only to discovered attacks included in my timelines. The sample does not pretend to be exhaustive but only aims to provide an high level overview of the “cyber landscape”, or at least of the ones that gained space in the media (yes, using an abused expression this is just the tip of the Iceberg).
If you want to have an idea of how fragile our data are inside the cyberspace, have a look at the timelines of the main Cyber Attacks in 2011, 2012, 2013 and now 2014 (regularly updated). You may also want to have a look at the Cyber Attack Statistics.
Of course follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates, and feel free to submit remarkable incidents that in your opinion deserve to be included in the timelines (and charts).
You have the most informative blog ever! Can I use your graphics in flyers and newsletter mailings about cyber security? I will be sure to credit properly so that people can find you.