19TH JUL 2024
Does geography have an effect on what type of cyber attack you face? A Verizon report offers us hints. The DBIR 2024 has classified various regions impacted by cyber attacks, cataloguing a total of 27,051 incidents. Out of these, over one third were confirmed data breaches.
Today, we will be showcasing an overview of the top 3 regions that were the most impacted by cyber attacks.
We will be exploring a breakdown of cyber attacks from a macro-regional point of view.
Through this analysis, variations in cybercrime trends as well as their consistency from one geographical area to the another can be understood.
What is APAC: Asia and the Pacific, including Southern Asia, South-eastern Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Asia and Oceania.
Frequency: 2,130 incidents | Confirmed data breaches: 523
Data compromised:
Credentials - 69%
Internal - 37%
Secrets - 24%
Other breaches - 17%
Social engineering and system intrusion both are tied for the position of top patterns in this area.
As for threat actors, instead of financially motivated parties accounting for over 90% of breaches (as they generally are in most regions), this is not the case for APAC as they account for a much lower percentage.
The espionage motive accounts for 25% of breaches. This is a much larger proportion than in most regions, where espionage typically accounts for 4% to 6% of breaches.
What is EMEA: Europe, Middle East and Africa, including Northern Africa, Europe and Eastern Europe, and Western Asia.
Frequency: 8,302 incidents | Confirmed data breaches: 6,005
Data compromised:
Personal - 64%
Internal - 33%
Credentials - 20%
Other breaches - 36%
In the EMEA region, a substantial rise in Miscellaneous Errors pattern has been seen, to the point where it has become the top pattern of this area. Just like all the other regions featured in this post, system intrusion is featured among the top three patterns observed in this area.
What is NA: Northern America, which primarily consists of breaches in the United States and Canada.
Frequency: 16,619 incidents | Confirmed data breaches: 1,877
Data compromised:
Personal- 50%
Credentials - 26%
Internal- 19%
Other breaches- 16%
In this region, social engineering represents a startling 56% of breaches. Extortion was the greatest factor in the growth of social engineering in this region, amounting for 46% of these breaches. Phishing and pretexting were responsible for 13% and 4% of social engineering attacks in NA respectively.
We’ve taken a look at the patterns and similarities that have been established between different regions of the world through this brief regional analysis. The uncovered statistics, paired with others such as our DBIR 2024 industries recap can be informative in helping your organization formulate its cyber defence strategy.
The role of cybersecurity awareness training in minimizing data breaches remains one of the top ways to deal with cyber threats.
Note: This post is part of our extensive coverage of Verizon's Data Breach Investigations Report 2024, detailing the top cybersecurity threats faced by governmental, non-profit and corporate organizations.
