Recent Cyber Attacks - 2024 - Astra Security Blog

“I’d rather have a root canal than go through one of these attacks again.” – Rich Krueger, President & CEO, Suncor Energy

While the analogy is a bit extreme, tragically, nowadays it isn’t a question of if, but rather when will you be attacked. In fact, in the time you read this sentence, another business has already fallen victim to a cyberattack. With an average of 2200 daily attacks or 1 attack every 39 seconds, the burgeoning $8 trillion cybercrime industry hardly comes as a surprise.

But beyond the sheer financial and reputational losses lies a chilling reality: no entity —not even governments— is immune to this growing headache. The Costa Rican nation, for instance, was in a state of emergency for almost the entirety of 2022 and 2023, thanks to repetitive cyber attacks that crippled its critical infrastructure.

But are there any common patterns that dominated 2023-2024? Let’s take a look!

What are the recent cybercrime trends?

1. Politically motivated attacks

Unfortunately, 2023 witnessed numerous political conflicts erupt around the world, ranging from the invasion of Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis in Yemen to the coup in Suda and the Hamas-Palestine conflict. With the evolution and adoption of AIML, governments, and politically influenced organizations have started weaponizing hacking as a means to fulfill their respective political agendas.

As such, the year was defined by ideologically motivated and legally sanctioned attacks on government agencies and critical infrastructure to gain the upper hand.

2. Ransomware attacks are still the dominant threat

Ransomware, or the digital equivalent of a bank heist has surprisingly (or not) emerged as a dominant threat for nearly the 8th year in a row, starting since 2016-17.

Businesses and government assets alike are being held hostage repetitively, with paralyzed operations, encrypted data with the threat of public release, and exorbitant ransoms such as in the Cloud Pipeline attack.

3. Supply chain attacks are on the rise

The interconnectedness and dependence of the global supply chain have also created paths to global vulnerabilities. Cybercriminals today can infiltrate multiple organizations by simply compromising a single supplier causing widespread disruption, thanks to the accompanying domino effect. The MOVEit software vulnerability was the primary example in 2023.

4. AIML on the rise

Artificial intelligence and machine learning, the revolutionary technologies of 2023 are now also being leveraged by cyber attackers to identify patterns and develop more automated attacks. For example, even the most randomly generated digital passwords often follow a pattern.

AIML equips these malicious attackers to not only identify such patterns but also create autonomous attacks that leverage such information. From writing mass phishing emails that mimic the phrasing and writing style of a colleague to AI-powered ransomware, the possibilities are terrifyingly limitless.

5. Attack surfaces are expanding

The fast adoption and explosion of IoT (Internet of Things), cloud computing, and several other technologically powered automation advancements have given way to a wider attack surface for cyberattacks.

Moreover, AI-powered attack vector programs now help these bots to not only use the most mundane house gadgets to not only spy on you and your business but also map possible psychological manipulation methods and sell the information on black markets.

Seems like something out of a futuristic sci-fi right? Well, here are some of the most recent cyber attacks that traumatized governments and businesses alike in 2023-2024.

Recent Cyber Attacks in 2023-2024

November

November proved to be another grim month in the ongoing cyberwar, with several successful attacks ranging from ransomware to data breaches. Based on a recent report by IBM, each breach came at a steep price, averaging $4.45 million in losses. Let’s delve into some of the attacks that dominated the fall headlines:

Date	Attack Type	Target	Perpetrators	Impact
19 Nov	Ransomware	Toyota Financial Services (TFS)	Medusa Ransomware	Data breach with unauthorized activity in select locations
17 Nov	Ransomware	Chicago Trading Company and Alphadyne Asset Management	Lockbit Ransomware	Data breach and financial loss
16 Nov	Ransomware	Yamaha Motor	INC Ransom gang	Data breach with partial leakage of employee info
15 Nov	Ransomware	Hopewell Area School District	Medusa Ransomware	Disruption of school operations
14 Nov	Ransomware	BITZER	Akira Ransomware	Data breach worth 70 million
13 Nov	Data Breach	McLaren Health Care	BlackCat	Data breach of 2.2 million patient records
11 Nov	Data Breach	Idaho National Laboratory (INL)	SiegedSec	Data breach of 100,000 employee records
10 Nov	Ransomware	Poloniex	Unknown	Theft of $156+ million in cryptocurrency
9 Nov	Phishing	Czechia	Europol and Eurojust	Disruption of phishing operation worth €8 million
8 Nov	Supply Chain Attack	SIRVA	LockBit	Data breach of 1.5TB of data
7 Nov	Data Breach	Allen & Overy	LockBit	Data breach on select storage servers
6 Nov	Data Breach	Cozwolle	Black Basta	Data breach using QakBot Malware
5 Nov	Ransomware	Medina Hospital in Ohio	ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group	Disruption of hospital operations

October

October yielded a golden harvest for the world of cybercrime. This rise in ransomware attacks, as well as data breaches, was driven by several factors, including the increasing sophistication of cybercriminals and the growing reliance of businesses and individuals on technology. Some significant head-turners include:

Date	Attack Type	Target	Perpetrators	Impact
31 Oct	Ransomware	Südwestfalen-IT	Unknown	110 municipalities and organizations affected
28 Oct	Ransomware Attack	British Library	Rhysida	Disruption of services for 2+ weeks and 11 Million+ compromised files
25 Oct	Ransomware	Hillel Yaffe Medical Center	Unknown	Data breach of patient records
24 Oct	DDOS Attack	Czech Republic	NoName057	Disrupted access to the websites of the Interior Ministry, police force, Prague Airport, and the houses of parliament.
24 Oct	Cyber Attack	BitKeep	Unknown	Data breach with 10 million+ in losses
19 Oct	Google Cloud, Cloudflare, and AWS	Marina Bay Sands	Unknown	Unauthorized Third Party Access
10 Oct	DDOS Attack	Google Cloud, Cloudflare and AWS	Unknown	398 million requests per minute due to a Zero Day Vulnerability
6 Oct	Credential Stuffing	23andMe	Golem	Genetic data profiles of 6.9 million people leaked
1 Oct	DDOS Attack	UK Royal Family	KillNet	Disruption of official website for 90+ minutes

September

Cybersecurity awareness month brought renewed focus on the importance of online safety. However, cybercriminals continued to exploit vulnerabilities, with a series of attacks targeting international commissions and MNCs alike. Some of the most surprising ones include:

Date	Attack Type	Target	Perpetrators	Impact
30 Sep	Ransomware Attack	Motel One	ALPHV/BlackCat ransomware group	Data breach of 24.45 million customer records
27 Sep	Ransomware Attack	Johnson Controls	Dark Angels	Disrupted operations, stole 27 TB of data, and encrypted VMWare ESXi VMs
26 Sep	Ransomware Attack	Sony	RansomedVC and MajorNelson	Compromised systems and 3.14 GB of data leaked
18 Sep	Data Breach	DarkBeam	Unknown	3.8 billion records exposed
14 Sep	Data Breach	International Joint Commission (IJC)	NoEscape	Records of contracts, geological files, conflict of interest forms and more stolen, approx 80GB of data.
14 Sep	Data Breach	International Criminal Court (ICC)	Unknown	A targeted and sophisticated attack with the objective of espionage
11 Sep	Cyber Attack	Save the Children	BianLian	6.8TB of personal and business data stolen
6 Sep	Data Breach	Sabre	Dunghill Leak ransomware gang	1.3 terabytes of data stolen
4 Sep	DDOS Attack	BaFin	Unknown	Records of contracts, geological files, conflict of interest forms, and more stolen, approx 80GB of data.

August

Although August gave a bit of respite to companies to re-evaluate their security measures, it also witnessed emergence of emergence of new CVEs and threats, including deepfakes and cryptojacking. Some of the headlines included:

Date	Attack Type	Target	Perpetrators	Impact
28 Aug	Data Breach	PurFood	Unknown	1.2+ Million users’ data compromised
10 Aug	Ransomware	The Belt Railway Company of Chicago	Akira Ransomware gang	85 GB of data compromised
10 Aug	Ransomware	The California city of El Cerrito	LockBit Ransomware gang	Loss of data
7 Aug	Ransomware	Prospect Medical Holdings	Rhysida	500,000+ Social Security numbers, financial, legal and medical files compromised
3 Aug	Phishing	Discord	Akhirah	760,000 users’ data compromised

July

As temperatures soared, so did digital data breaches. However, July also witnessed the launch of new cybersecurity awareness initiatives, empowering individuals and organizations to take proactive steps to protect themselves online. Some noteworthy events included:

Date	Attack Type	Target	Perpetrators	Impact
21 Jul	Data Breach	7 million unique Social Security numbers compromised	Unknown	7 million unique Social Security number compromised
19 Jul	Data Breach	Roblox	Unknown	Exposed 4000+ developer accounts and data
19 Jul	Data Breach	Estée Lauder	Unknown	Exposed sensitive data of employees and customers
18 Jul	Data Leak	Kotak Life Insurance, State Bank of India	Clop Ransomware Group	Leaked sensitive data of customers of over 104GB
14 Jul	Ransomware	Shutterfly Business Solutions (SBS)	Unknown	Disrupted operations and encrypted data
10 Jul	Data Breach	HCA Healthcare	Unknown	Exposed sensitive data of 11 million patients
9 Jul	Malware	Alberta Dental Service Corporation (ADSC)	Unknown	1.5 million accounts compromised

June

The summer sun brought a surge in online activity, creating fertile ground for cybercrime. From Microsoft to legal departments across the world, all fell victim to cyber-attacks. Moreover, several Android apps fell prey to spyware and ended up being banned, as given below:

Date	Attack Type	Target	Perpetrators	Impact
29 Jun	Ransomware	Illinois Department of Innovation & Technology (DoIT)	CL0P ransomware gang	Disrupted state government systems and leaked data
27 Jun	Ransomware	Serco	Clop Ransomware	10,000+ individuals were affected as a domino effect of MOVE iT.
26 Jun	DDoS	Microsoft	Anonymous Sudan	18,000 users couldn’t access Outlook due to what eventually came to light as a DDoS attack
24 Jun	Cyber attack	Suncor Energy	Unknown	Disrupted fuel payments at 1500+ Petro-Canada gas stations across Canada
21 Jun	Data Breach	Hot Topic	Clop Ransomware	500,000 customers affected
15 Jun	DDoS	10,000+ individuals were affected as a domino effect of MOVE iT.	NoName	Disrupted government websites ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to the Swiss parliament
10 Jun	Spyware	Android apps	Unknown	Affected 190 Android apps on the Google Play Store with estimated over 400 million downloads
5 Jun	Ransomware	Progress MOVEit	Lace Tempest, a group affiliated with Clop ransomware	Affected 190 Android apps on the Google Play Store with an estimated over 400 million downloads
2 Jun	Ransomware	Spanish bank Globalcaja	Play ransomware group	Disrupted bank operations and stole encrypted data including an undisclosed amount of private and personal confidential data, client and employee documents, passports, contracts, and more.
2 Jun	Ransomware	YKK	LockBit	Encrypted data and disrupted operations

May

Cybercriminals turned their attention to exploiting vulnerabilities in the global supply chain. Although many saw a slight dip in cybercrime, a series of coordinated attacks across various critical infrastructures, caused significant delays and disruptions, impacting businesses and consumers worldwide, as detailed under:

Date	Attack Type	Target	Perpetrators	Impact
29 May	Unauthorised Access	Skolkovo Foundation	Ukranian hacktivists	Limited access to certain information systems, including file hosting service on physical servers.
28 May	Price manipulation	Jimbos Protocol	Unknown	Steal 4000 ETH worth nearly $7.5 Million
26 May	Ransomware attack	City of Augusta	BlackByte	Compromised data with PII, with 10GB released as sample

April

April showers brought a surge in social engineering attacks. The American government turned out to be an unfortunate favorite for cybercriminals. The month also saw a rise in ransomware attacks as given below:

Date	Attack Type	Target	Perpetrators	Impact
20 Apr	Data Breach	American Bar Association	Unknown	Compromised the Bar Association’s network and gained access to older credentials for 1,466,000 members.
13 Apr	Ransomware	NCR	BlackCat/ALPHV	Impacting a limited number of ancillary Aloha applications for a subset of our hospitality customers
12 Apr	Ransomware	US Navy Contractor Fincantieri Marine Group	Unknown	Temporary disruption to certain computer systems running on its network
12 Apr	Data Breach	Hyundai	Unknown	Customer data of owners in Paris and France leaked
6 Apr	Data Breach/Ransomware	MSI	Money Message	Intel Boot Guard private keys and leaked over 500 GB of data

March

Spring brought a series of attacks on government departments, exposing the vulnerability of personal data stored online. In a concerning development, hackers infiltrated the systems of a prominent healthcare organization, potentially jeopardizing patient records. Cyber attacks on tax authorities and financial institutions also ramped up, capitalizing on the annual tax season. Learn more below:

Date	Attack Type	Target	Perpetrators	Impact
29 Mar	Exposure and Ransomware	BMW, France	Play ransomware	Contract information, financial information, and PII stolen
21 Mar	Data Breach	Shields Healthcare Group	Individual hacker	Sensitive information of 2.3 million patients stolen
21 Mar	Data Breach	UK’s Criminal Records Office	Undisclosed	Disrupted operations – other effects unknown.
Mid-March	Ransomware	Yellow Pages	Black Basta gang	Stolen social security numbers, scans of passports, IDs, and assorted tax documents of approx 3,00,000 users‘.
8 Mar	Data Breach	Minneapolis Public Schools	Medusa Hacker Collective	Personally Identifiable Information of students and staff stolen and leaked

February

Love was in the air, but so were cybercriminals seeking to exploit the season’s romance. They targeted cloud spaces and banks, causing financial losses and heartbreak for victims. At the same time, some government agencies faced a serious ransomware attack, disrupting essential services and raising worries about national security. Let’s take a deeper look:

Date	Attack Type	Target	Perpetrators	Impact
23 Feb	Data Breach	Dish Network	Unknown	Some data was extracted and Dish’s share price fell by 6.5%
17 Feb	Ransomware	US Marshals Service	Unknown	Sensitive law enforcement data exposed
14 Feb	HTTP DDoS	CloudFlare	Unknown	Cloudflare thwarted one of the largest known DDoS attack peaking at 71 million requests per second.
3 Feb	ESXiArgs Ransomware Attack	VMware ESXi	Nevada	Nearly 1000 ESXi servers have been infected
3 Feb	Credential Theft	Bank Accounts Hacked in Nepal	8 individuals in Kathmandu	Several million rupees stolen
2 Feb	Ransomware	Tallahassee Memorial	Unknown	Surgeries were rescheduled, patients were re-directed, and IT systems were shut down for weeks.

January

The icy grip of winter brought a chilling wave of cybercrime. Hackers leveraged the holiday season rush and post-vacation chaos to unleash a flurry of phishing attacks and malware campaigns. Social media platforms became battlegrounds for disinformation and fake news, further amplifying the confusion and chaos.

Date	Attack Type	Target	Perpetrators	Impact
31 Jan	Ransomware	ION Group	LockBit	42 Financial Institutions in the US and Europe
30 Jan	DDoS attack	US hospitals	Killnet	Outage in IT services and electronic health records
26 Jan	Information theft	Yandex	Allegedly former Yandex employee	Unconfirmed – Code repositories amounting to 44.7GB were published as a Torrent on a hacker forum recently.
20 Jan	Ransomware	Schools in Tucson, Arizona, and Nantucket	Royal Ransomware gang	42000 students and 7000 staff members are affected.
18 Jan	Credential stuffing	PayPal	Unknown	Hackers had access to the personal data of 34,942 PayPal users for 2 days
16 Jan	Third-party data breach	Nissan North America	Unknown individual	Personally Identifiable Information of 17,998 customers was exposed
11 Jan	Data Breach through social engineering	Mailchimp	Unknown	Unauthorized access to 133 Mailchimp accounts
10 Jan	Zero Day	Windows ALPC	Unknown	Privilege escalation
9 Jan	Data breach	AirFrance and KLM	Unknown	Exposure of email IDs, user names, earned miles balance
5 Jan	API data breach	T-Mobile	Unknown	Limited types of information were exposed affecting 37 million users

How can You Protect Yourself?

While the current cyber threat landscape is gloomy and quite frightening, you can take some fairly simple steps to decrease the risk of being victimized by a cyber attack.

Implement multifactor authentication & encryption for all your accounts
Stress on using vendors that offer multifactor authentication Implement proper input validation on all customer-input-enabled areas on your website
Keep all extensions, appliances, and applications up-to-date
Do not delay implementing patches
Practice regular security testing – vulnerability assessment and penetration testing
Leverage AI to identify rare attack vectors
Adopt a zero-trust architecture
Collaborate and share information on complex threats
Draft and execute robust response plans

How can Astra Help?

Astra is a leading SaaS company specializing in providing innovative web security solutions. Our comprehensive suite of cybersecurity solutions blends automation and manual expertise to run 8000+ tests and compliance checks, ensuring complete safety, irrespective of the threat and attack location.

See Astra’s continuous Pentest platform in action.

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With zero false positives, seamless tech stack integrations, and real-time expert support, we strive to make cybersecurity simple, effective, and hassle-free for thousands of websites & businesses worldwide.

Moreover, our industry-specific AI test cases, world-class Astranaut Bot, and customizable reports are designed to make your experience smoother while saving you millions of dollars proactively.

Conclusion

The best you can do to run a secure business in 2024 is to make life really hard for hackers. While you may not have control over zero-day exploits, you can ensure that you never run a vulnerable appliance for which a patch was available.

Educate your teams, and make cybersecurity an integral part of your business functionality by adopting security-first approaches such as vulnerability assessment and penetration testing.