Trend Micro Blocked 8.8 Million COVID-19 Threats in the First Half of 2020

More than 37,700 cases detected in Hong Kong, 67% of which were email-based

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HONG KONG, CHINA - Media OutReach - August 27, 2020 - Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), the leader in cybersecurity
solutions, today released its annual mid-year roundup report, which reveals
COVID-19 related threats as the single largest type of threat in the first half
of the year. In just six months, Trend Micro blocked 8.8 million COVID-19
related threats, nearly 92% of which were email-based.

 

Of the
threats detected, more than 37,700 cases were detected from Hong Kong, of which
more than 25,000 were email-based threats. Trend Micro found email samples that claimed to provide the latest news
and updates on the virus but instead delivered malware to its recipients.

 

Cybercriminals
shifted their focus from January through June to take advantage of global
interest in the pandemic. The risk to businesses was compounded by security
gaps created by a completely remote workforce.

 

“The
pandemic has dominated all of our lives during the first half of 2020, but it’s
not slowing down the cybercriminals,” said Tony Lee, Consulting Manager of
Trend Micro Hong Kong and Macau. “IT leaders must continue to adapt their
cybersecurity strategies to account for increased threats to their new normal.
That means protecting remote endpoints, cloud systems, user credentials and VPN
systems, as well as refreshing training courses to turn that newly dispersed
workforce into a more effective first line of defense.”

 

In
total, Trend Micro blocked 27.8 billion cyber threats in the first half of
2020, 93% of which were email-borne.

 

Business
Email Compromise (BEC) detections increased by 19% from the second half of
2019, in part due to scammers trying to capitalize on home workers being more
exposed to social engineering.

 

Among
all the threats in the first half of the year, ransomware was a constant
factor. Although the number of detected ransomware threats decreased, Trend
Micro saw a 45% increase in new ransomware families compared to the same time
last year.

 

Global
organizations have also been burdened by a significant spike in newly disclosed
vulnerabilities. Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) published a total of
786 advisories, representing a 74% increase from the second half of 2019. Some
of these came as part of Microsoft Patch Tuesday updates, which have fixed an
average of 103 CVEs per month so far in 2020 — including the largest number of
patches ever issued in a single month (129) in June.

 

Trend
Micro also observed a 16% increase in vulnerabilities disclosed in industrial
control systems (ICS), compared to the first half of 2019, which could create
major challenges for smart factory owners and other organizations running IIoT
environments.

 

To
effectively protect dispersed corporate networks, Gartner recommends businesses
“refine security monitoring capabilities to reflect an operating environment
where network traffic patterns, data and system access vectors have changed due
to increased remote and mobile operations.^[1]”
Trend Micro XDR helps customers do exactly that by correlating security events
across the entire IT environment, which is critical for holistic protection in
the second half of 2020.

 

To learn more about the threat landscape in the first half of 2020 and
how businesses can stay secure moving forward, read the full report here: https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/hk/security/research-and-analysis/threat-reports/roundup/securing-the-pandemic-disrupted-workplace-trend-micro-2020-midyear-cybersecurity-report.

 

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro, a
global leader in cybersecurity, helps make the world safe for exchanging
digital information. Leveraging over 30 years of security expertise, global
threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro enables resilience for
businesses, governments, and consumers with connected solutions across cloud
workloads, endpoints, email, IIoT, and networks. Our XGen™ security strategy
powers our solutions with a cross-generational blend of threat-defense
techniques that are optimized for key environments and leverage shared threat
intelligence for better, faster protection. With over 6,700 employees in 65
countries, and the world’s most advanced global threat research and
intelligence, Trend Micro enables organizations to secure their connected world www.trendmicro.com.hk.