(Excerpts from Campus Safety News)

• In the first six months of 2021, education saw a 615% spike in ransomware incidents, while healthcare experienced a 594% increase.
• According to SonicWall’s 2021 Cyber Threat Report, there have been a total of 304.7 million global ransomware attacks, which is already more than the 304.6 million total from last year. That’s good enough for an increase of 151%.
• April, May and June experienced record highs, including 789.4 million in June alone.
• “The continued rise of ransomware, cryptojacking and other unique forms of malware targeted at monetization, along with their evolution of tactics, are evidence that cybercriminal activity always follows the money and rapidly adapts to new opportunities and changing environments,” said SonicWall Vice President of Platform Architecture Dmitriy Ayrapetov.
• The U.S. in particular saw a heavy increase in ransomware volume, a spike of 185%. The country was the most targeted, followed by the U.K., Germany, South Africa and Brazil.
• Florida was the most targeted state with 111.1 million ransomware attacks, more than four times as many as the next state, New York, with 26.4 million attacks. Idaho, (20.5 million), Louisiana (8.8 million) and Rhode Island (8.8 million) followed.
• The report also found that new malware variants are being discovered, and IoT devices remain vulnerable to compromise.