121 million ransomware attacks recorded in the first half of 2020
Hackers said to be getting "sneakier" as they turn to fewer attacks that spread far more quickly


Ransomware cases around the world increased by 20% in the first half of 2020, according to a report.
Researchers from SonicWall Capture Labs recorded 121.2 million attacks up to July 2020, with 79.9 million of these in the US and 5.9 million in the UK.
The increased has partly been blamed on the sudden surge of employees working remotely, placing many outside company firewalls. Coronavirus-based phishing is said to have been the biggest fact, which has grown in usage since the start of the lockdown, peaking in April.
Overall, Malware attacks actually declined by 24% compared to 2019, dropping from 4.8 billion cases to 3.2 billion. However, the report suggests that although numbers are down, hackers have been "sneaky" by launching fewer attacks that are designed to spread at a faster rate. South Korea and China suffered the brunt of these attacks, with the UK and US just outside of the top ten, according to the report.
"Cyber criminals can be resourceful, often setting traps to take advantage of people's kindness during a natural disaster, panic throughout a crisis and trust in systems used in everyday life," said SonicWall CEO Bill Conner.
"This latest cyber threat data shows that cyber criminals continue to morph their tactics to sway the odds in their favour during uncertain times. With everyone more remote and mobile than ever before, businesses are highly exposed and the cyber criminal industry is very aware of that. It's imperative that organisations move away from makeshift or traditional security strategies and realise this new business normal is no longer new."
RELATED RESOURCE
The report also suggested that the number of cases involving malicious Microsoft Office files have exploded, increasing 176% in 2020, some 70,184 incidents in total, including a new Excel malware variant.
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
While SonicWall research suggested overall malware attacks were down, specific attacks on content management systems (CMS) were up 60%, according to WP Manager, a WordPress management service, which recently discovered a leap in requests for malware removal and uncovered a surge in attempted hacking of CMS.
"It's actually shocking to note how instances of malware have increased this year," said Jason Correia, managing director of WP Manager. "For clients not on one of our site care plans, we have noticed a nearly 60% increase in the number of malware removal requests received this year – so far – which is a huge jump on 2019 figures. Generally, we have also noticed a 30% increase in the number of brute force attempts too (attempts to hack into the website)."
RELATED RESOURCE
IT Pro 20/20: A quantum leap for security
The sixth issue of IT Pro 20/20 looks at the state of cyber security in 2020 and beyond
Correia suggests the increase is likely due to the general growth and adoption of WordPress as a CMS, but does point to other factors. He cites the sheer number of WordPress plugins available for download as a potential vector, which offer more opportunities than ever for hackers to target and exploit vulnerabilities.
Bobby Hellard is ITPro's Reviews Editor and has worked on CloudPro and ChannelPro since 2018. In his time at ITPro, Bobby has covered stories for all the major technology companies, such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook, and regularly attends industry-leading events such as AWS Re:Invent and Google Cloud Next.
Bobby mainly covers hardware reviews, but you will also recognize him as the face of many of our video reviews of laptops and smartphones.
-
Using DeepSeek at work is like ‘printing out and handing over your confidential information’
News Thinking of using DeepSeek at work? Think again. Cybersecurity experts have warned you're putting your enterprise at huge risk.
-
Can cyber group takedowns last?
ITPro Podcast Threat groups can recover from website takeovers or rebrand for new activity – but each successful sting provides researchers with valuable data
-
Average ransom payment doubles in a single quarter
News Targeted social engineering and data exfiltration have become the biggest tactics as three major ransomware groups dominate
-
BlackSuit ransomware gang taken down in latest law enforcement sting – but members have already formed a new group
News The notorious gang has seen its servers taken down and bitcoin seized, but may have morphed into a new group called Chaos
-
Google cyber researchers were tracking the ShinyHunters group’s Salesforce attacks – then realized they’d also fallen victim
News In an update to an investigation on the ShinyHunters group, Google revealed it had also been affected
-
Nearly one-third of ransomware victims are hit multiple times, even after paying hackers
News Many ransomware victims are being hit more than once, largely thanks to fragmented security tactics
-
75% of UK business leaders are willing to risk criminal penalties to pay ransoms
News A ransom payment ban is a great idea - until you're the one being targeted...
-
The Scattered Spider ransomware group is infiltrating Slack and Microsoft Teams to target vulnerable employees
News The group is using new ransomware variants and new social engineering techniques - including sneaking into corporate teleconferences
-
Hackers breached a 158 year old company by guessing an employee password – experts say it’s a ‘pertinent reminder’ of the devastating impact of cyber crime
News A Panorama documentary exposed hackers' techniques and talked to the teams trying to tackle them
-
The ransomware boom shows no signs of letting up – and these groups are causing the most chaos
News Thousands of ransomware cases have already been posted on the dark web this year