The cybersecurity company assesses the state of the cyber threat landscape each quarter based on research, analysis and threat data gathered by the McAfee Global Threat Intelligence cloud.
Described as a ‘vibrant quarter for ransomware’ by McAfee in a statement announcing its findings, Q2 2021 saw new and updated threats introduced by cyber criminals targeting prominent sectors such as government, financial services and entertainment.
73 per cent of ransomware detections in Q2 2021 were found to be related to the REvil/Sodinokibi family. The most targeted sector for ransomware in Q2 2021 was government, followed by telecoms, energy, and media & communications.
The challenges of shifting cloud security to accommodate a more flexible workforce were pointed out by the report, with cyber criminals taking advantage of more potential exploits and targets.
Ed Baker, EMEA partner lead at McAfee Enterprise said that channel partners must take note of these evolving threats and adapt to the changes their customers are making across the IT and security industry.
“This involves moving towards flexible infrastructure, helping IT teams increase their capacity through cloud and SAAS applications, and increasing cloud security offerings,” Baker said.
“Risk intelligence solutions are also key in light of increasing ransomware threats, helping customers predict and prioritise potential threats before pre-emptively adapting their defensive countermeasures to ensure optimised security and future business resilience.
“Encouraging enterprises to adopt a Zero-Trust approach to security will also help them to maintain control over access to the network and all instances within it, all without compromising user experience and performance for their customers and employees.”
The report is available here.