Orange Cyberdefense measured an increase of 46 percent compared to 2022. This is the highest number ever measured.

Orange Cyberdefense recorded 129,395 events in its annual security report – an increase of 30 percent compared to 2022. The trend was already evident at the beginning of the year. 25,076 (19%) of these are confirmed security incidents. The hacking threat was the most prominent, accounting for almost a third of confirmed incidents (30.32%). “Abuse” came in second (16.61%), while “malware” fell to third (12.98%).

Although the number of events has increased, the actual number of confirmed incidents has decreased by 14% year-over-year. The manufacturing sector (32.43%) has by far the most confirmed incidents and shows the same pattern as in recent years. Retail (21.73%) and professional, scientific and technological services (9.84%) rounded out the top three.

Everyone is targeted

In the last 12 months, the number of cyber extortion victims worldwide has increased by 46 percent, the highest number ever recorded. Most attacks targeted large organizations (40%), with a steady increase among companies with more than 10,000 employees.

Small organizations account for a quarter (25%) of all victims, closely followed by medium-sized companies (23%).

According to the study, 25 cyber extortion groups from 2022 disappeared during 2023. 23 would have survived the year before. There were 31 new groups that had never seen the security company before.

Of existing cyber extortion groups, more than half (54%) had a lifespan of up to six months. 21 percent survived seven to twelve months and 10 percent of all groups lived to thirteen to eighteen months. This illustrates how difficult it is to stop a cyber extortion campaign.