I have aggregated the statistics created from the cyber attacks timelines published during Q4 2022 (October, November, and December.) In total I collected 817 events (vs. 875 in Q34, 694 in Q2, and 646 in Q1) corresponding to 8.88 events per day, despite the peak has been reached in q3, the level of activity remains pretty sustained.
Cyber crime continues to lead the Motivations chart with 81%, ten points more than Q2 (71%), and Q1 (70.3%). Similarly, malware continues to lead the Attack Techniques chart with 36.1% up from both Q2 (30.7%) and Q1 (31.3%). And the Target Distribution chart is once again led by Multiple Industries with 20.6%,down from both Q2 (24.4%) and Q1 (25.9%).
The statistics are also available as an infographic.
As always bear in mind that the sample refers exclusively to the attacks included in my timelines, available from public sources such as blogs and news sites. Obviously the sample cannot be complete, but only aims to provide an high level overview of the threat landscape.
Finally, please support my work, sharing the content, and of course follow @paulsparrows on Twitter for the latest updates.
Support my work! Make a donation!
Q3 2023 Cyber Attacks Statistics
The third quarter of 2023 saw a 6.5% increase in cyber attacks with 1,108 events. Cybercrime led the charts with 79.7% of motives, mostly using malware techniques. Exploitation of vulnerabilities ranked second, majorly affecting multiple industries and healthcare and financial sectors.
Q2 2026 Cyber Attacks Statistics
Q2 2026 brought 578 recorded cyber incidents worldwide, with financially-motivated cyber crime accounting for over 71% of the total. Malware remained the attacker’s weapon of choice, exploiting public-facing applications as the leading entry point. Information & Communication stood out as the hardest-hit sector.
Q1 2026 Cyber Attack Statistics
I aggregated the statistics created from the cyber attacks timelines published in the first quarter of 2026. In this period, I collected a total of 528 events (5.87 events/day) dominated by Cyber Crime with 66%, followed by Cyber Espionage with 18%, Hacktivism with 3%, and finally Cyber Warfare with 2%.
2021 Cyber Attacks Statistics
And finally I have aggregated all the data collected in 2021 from the cyber attacks timelines. In the past year I have collected 2539 events, meaning…
Rogue AI AgentsAI agents are escaping sandboxes, misusing credentials and acting without authorization. This live dashboard tracks every reported incident on a horizontal timeline, with charts showing which AI companies and agents are involved, the techniques used and how they got in. It updates automatically as new ...
October 2026 Cyber Attacks TimelineA live view of the month's vetted cyber incidents, updated as new events are confirmed. Explore the timeline, filter by attack type, and see motivations, techniques, initial access methods, targeted sectors and target countries on an interactive map.
Mega Breaches in 2026Here’s a collection of the main mega breaches (that is data breaches with more than one million records compromised and possibly leaked) during 2026. The information is derived from the cyber attacks timelines that I published, normally, on a bi-weekly basis.
AI-Assisted Malicious CampaignsIn this blog post I am collecting the campaigns that show evidence of being AI-generated, or make use of AI tools to increase their impact. As always I will continue to update the list as soon as new campaigns emerge.
September 2026 Cyber Attacks TimelineA live, continuously updated timeline of the cyber attacks reported in September 2026 — tracking threat actors, attack techniques, targeted sectors and countries as each incident is vetted and added.
