LAHORE: In a concerning trend, spyware attacks in Pakistan surged by an alarming 300% during the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, indicating a significant rise in espionage and data breaches.
Findings from the Kaspersky Managed Detection and Response (MDR) team revealed that high-severity incidents, often involving direct human engagement, exceeded two per day in 2023, highlighting the severity of the threat landscape.
The latest report from Kaspersky underscores the widespread impact across industries, with finance, IT, government, and industrial sectors bearing the brunt of these attacks.
While backdoor attacks moderately increased in 2024, there was a notable decrease of over 50% in banking malware attacks from the previous year. Nevertheless, these fluctuations underscore the urgent need for bolstering cybersecurity measures to protect Pakistan’s digital infrastructure from evolving threats.
Analysis shows that 22.9% of high-severity incidents targeted the government sector, followed by IT (15.4%), finance (14.9%), and industrial (11.8%) companies, respectively.
Based on Kaspersky SOC’s analysis of Managed Detection and Response incidents, the report provides insights into incident nature, industry distribution, and prevalent attack tactics.
Despite a slight decrease in malware-driven incidents in 2023, targeted attacks continue to pose a significant threat, emphasizing the importance of robust cybersecurity solutions managed by experienced SOC analysts.
Hafeez Rehman, Technical Group Manager at Kaspersky, stressed the evolving nature of targeted attacks, urging the adoption of automated cybersecurity solutions for effective defense against sophisticated threats.
