Cybersecurity Report H1 2024

The new Cybersecurity Report H1 2024 from Myra provides IT decision-makers with a comprehensive overview of the current trends and challenges in the field of cybersecurity. Learn more about:

✔ Cyberattacks on critical infrastructure (KRITIS)

✔ Threats for web applications

✔ DDoS Threat Insights

✔ The challenge of NIS-2

✔ AI: opportunities & risks

Download the report

Trends & Key Insights

KRITIS

DDoS & Bots

Compliance

KRITIS in focus
In the first quarter of 2024 alone, 181 attacks on critical infrastructures were reported.
On average, one in six KRITIS organizations recorded a cyber incident - the energy, finance and insurance, transport and traffic and healthcare sectors were particularly affected.
DDoS attacks & bad bots
The malicious traffic is made up of DDoS attacks, attacks on vulnerabilities in online applications and bot-based attacks.
One reason for the tense threat situation is the increasing professionalization of cyber criminals and the trend towards cybercrime-as-a-service offerings.
AI in cybersecurity: blessing and curse
Currently, LLMs such as GPT 3.5 are mainly used for phishing campaigns. However, new generations of LLMs are also suitable for creating malicious code.
On the other hand, AI systems make it possible to vastly improve the protection of critical digital processes. Especially in the automated identification of anomalies and real-time monitoring.
The challenge of NIS-2 compliance
Companies must take comprehensive measures to protect their systems and data by mid-October 2024 in accordance with NIS-2 and respond quickly and effectively in the event of an attack.
One in three companies stated in a survey that they had not yet taken any measures for NIS-2 implementation.

Massive growth in harmful requests

As a specialist protection service provider for organizations in highly regulated sectors, Myra can provide a detailed picture of traffic developments in the financial, insurance, healthcare, public sector and KRITIS sectors.

In the first quarter of 2024, there was a 29.8% increase in malicious requests on websites, online portals and web APIs compared to 2023.
In the second quarter, the increase is even more significant at 80%.
Over the entire first half of 2024, the increase in malicious requests amounted to 53.2% compared to the previous year.

Expert interview with zeroBS CTO Markus Manzke on the DDoS threat (excerpt)

Markus Manzke is Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of zeroBS, a Germany-based pentesting company. zeroBS helps its customers understand and address the risks of operating Internet-based infrastructures.

(For the full interview and more information from zeroBS on the new HTTP/2 Continuation Flood attack technique, download the report now).

DNS attacks seem to be becoming more prominent, which methods are leading the way?

Since 2023, an increase in DNS flood attacks has been observed by various manufacturers. DNS servers are put under so much strain that they cease to operate and the attacked target is virtually digitally erased.

Which attack vectors cause companies the most difficulties in defending themselves?

The most successful attacks currently take place via the application layer, as this has an extremely high degree of complexity due to a combination of the attack surface (number and distribution of targets) and the technology used (classic web applications, APIs, API-generated websites).